ARMM, Maguindanao beef up education, health services for children

ARMM, Maguindanao beef up education, health services for children

SHARIFF AGUAK, MAGUINDANAO – The ARMM regional government and Maguindanao provincial government has collaborated to continuously extend to children in the province the education and health services despite the sporadic skirmishes in the area through the Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) program.

The program has started in the country in 2005 where children aged three to four ought to be in school already but with considerations to children aged five to six in the absence of schools supervised by Department of Education (DepEd). Maguindano aims to institutionalize the ECCD program in all local government units in the province down to the barangay level.

In the ECCD implementing rules and regulations (IRR), target areas of implementation should meet the required factors such as considerable population of children and high malnutrition rate. Another factor is the commitment of the barangay government to shoulder the monthly 1,000 peso-honorarium for each Day Care Worker and Barangay Health Worker as mandated in the IRR.

Nulfarid Ampatuan of Provincial Planning and Development (PPDO) here said that aside from the cited factors of choosing target areas, “these communities are the most affected areas during armed conflict.”

In Maguindanao, ten (10) barangays have benefited the program which implementation had kicked off in January 2008. These are Barangays Poblacion, Duguengen, Lusay and Libutan of Mamasapano municipality; Barangays Elian, Pagatin and Madia of Datu Saudi Ampatuan; and Barangays Sapakan, Gaunan and Mileb of Rajah Buayan.

The ECCD program provided the following services to every barangay – organization of Barangay Council for the Protection of Children (BCPC) to directly address cases of trafficking, rape and related cases of children; construction or rehabilitation of Day Care Centers (DCC) and Barangay Health Centers (BHC); and provision of learning tools, reading materials and equipment for DCC, BHC and Supervised Neighborhood Play (SNP) or commonly known as Home-Based Centers.

Materials for DCC composed of books, audio cassettes of children’s songs and stories, cassette player, toys, first aid kits, mats, tables, chairs, cabinets and assorted learning materials. In BHC, package includes desk and ceiling fans, examining table, gas stove, sphygmomanometer, stethoscope, delivery kits, infant and clinical scales, thermometer and cabinets.

In the project monitoring conducted by PPDO-Maguindanao and Department of Social Welfare and Development in the region (DSWD-ARMM) on June 29 to 30, all BHCs and DCCs are functioning well except in Barangay Pagatin of Datu Saudi Ampatuan and Duguengen of Mamasapano.

The BHC and DCC of Pagatin was totally damaged when conflict broke in August 2008 and currently occupied by Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). In Duguengen, the DCC and BHC were burst into flames in September 2008 and children transferred schooling in the Harmony Place Center funded by United Children’s Fund (UNICEF) inside the evacuation center of Barangay Manungkaling, Mamasapano. They also access health services in the Rural Health Unit (RHU) of the same barangay.

Ampatuan said that the team’s assessment on the project monitoring will be relayed to Maguindano Governor Datu Sajid Islam Uy Ampatuan for proper intervention and resolution.

“We will exhaust our best effort to re-establish these health centers and day care centers damaged by armed conflict, as soon as possible, before we will start the Phase 2 of ECCD implementation. It is very depressing to see these children outside the learning center and their health unattended. Armed conflict impedes child’s development definitely,” Ampatuan said.

The Phase 2 implementation of ECCD program is due to start in August this year to four (4) new set of municipalities in Maguindanao – Mangudadatu, Datu Piang, South Upi and Gen. SK Pendatun.

ARMM Regional Governor Datu Zaldy Uy Ampatuan assures the people of the region of its continuous support and assistance citing “education and health are my priority concerns.”

“These are not only the physical foundation of a region’s development, but the basic rights of our people, especially our children. If we will not address this today, we deny the future of our children tomorrow,” Gov. Ampatuan said. (BPI-ARMM)



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