Mandating Parent Effectiveness Program

Policy; purpose; rights protected

The State recognizes the sanctity of family life and protects and strengthens the family as a basic autonomous social institution and foundation of the nation (Section 2).
The State strengthens family solidarity and actively promotes the family’s total development (Section 2).
The Act promotes participation by families and family associations in the planning and implementation of policies and programs that affect them (Section 2).
The State defends the right of children to assistance, including proper care and nutrition, and provides special protection from neglect, abuse, cruelty, exploitation, and other conditions prejudicial to development (Section 2).

Coverage; who the program serves

The Parent Effectiveness Service (PES) Program primarily covers fathers and mothers of children and parent-substitutes (Section 3).
LGUs must prioritize parents and/or parent-substitutes with vulnerable children, including children at risk, children in conflict with the law, and children exposed to and/or involved in violence in homes and communities (Section 3).
LGUs must also prioritize solo parents and/or their parent-substitutes, and adolescent parents and their parents and/or parent-substitutes (Section 3).

Key definitions for the Act

“Child” means a person below eighteen (18) years of age, or a person over eighteen (18) years but unable to fully take care or protect oneself from abuse, neglect, cruelty, exploitation, or discrimination because of a physical or psychosocial disability or condition (Section 4).
“Module” means a written component taught in a specified number of sessions that, together with other modules, counts toward completion of the PES Program (Section 4).
“PES Program” means a program providing and expanding parents’ and parent-substitutes’ knowledge and skills in parenting so they can respond to parental duties and responsibilities, including early childhood development, behavior management, husband-wife relationships, prevention of child abuse, health care, and other parenting challenges (Section 4).
“Parent-Substitute” means a person other than the biological parent who has custody over a child and is primarily responsible for care and physical, moral, and intellectual development; surrogate parents and care providers must secure a certification from the proper office of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) confirming them as a parent-substitute (Section 4).
“Surrogate Parent” means any adult family or extended-family member or caregiver who chooses to act as a substitute parent to a child not legally under his/her parental authority or care (Section 4).

Establishment; core modules; principles

A PES Program is established to assist all parents and parent-substitutes in strengthening knowledge and skills to respond to parental duties and responsibilities, protect and promote children’s rights, foster positive early childhood development, and advance educational progress (Section 5).
The PES Program must be implemented in every city and municipality (Section 5).
The PES Program consists of modules developed by the DSWD, in coordination with DepEd, ECCD Council, SGCs, DOH, DOJ, and DILG (Section 5).
Module delivery must be rolled out in such number of sessions as the DSWD and LGUs may prescribe (Section 5).
The core module content must be consistent with existing laws and embody specified principles, subject to modifications by concerned LGUs for local context (Section 5).
LGUs may design and contextualize their own modules consistent with existing laws, considering community needs and challenges and the progress and results of PES Program implementation (Section 5).

Core modules and their content areas

The modules must include (a) Parents and Parent-Substitutes and their Roles and Needs, including lessons to help participants understand roles, needs, responsibilities, identify strengths and weaknesses, and clarify family values and goals aligned with strengthening parenting (Section 5).
The modules must include (b) The Filipino Family, including understanding family dynamics in the Philippine context and reflection on building strengths to address weaknesses (Section 5).
The modules must include (c) Challenges of Parenting, including discussion of obstacles and stronger parenting skills, with consideration of innovations, technology, value changes, globalization, and social media (Section 5).
The modules must include (d) Child Development, including child growth and development, age-appropriate interventions, learning avenues, child development domains, and support for children’s cognitive development including skills on reading, mathematics, science (Section 5).
The modules must include (e) Keeping Children Safe from Abuse, including educating parents on children’s rights, risk factors and warning signs, laws relevant to violence and abuse against children, and how to report incidents to proper government authorities (Section 5).
The modules must include (f) Building the Child’s Positive Behavior, including theories on child behavior and character development and factors that can positively or negatively affect them (Section 5).
The modules must include (g) Health and Nutrition, including reproductive health concerns, common childhood diseases, basic nutrition principles, and growth monitoring (Section 5).
The modules must include (h) Home Management, including practical ideas for managing household time, financial matters, and stress management (Section 5).
The modules must include (i) Keeping a Healthy Physical Environment for the Child, including maintaining clean physical environments and discussing waste management and community environmental management efforts (Section 5).
The modules must include (j) Keeping Children Safe in Times of Disasters, including child-centered disaster risk reduction and management strategies to prevent, mitigate, and cope with disaster risks (Section 5).
The modules must include (k) Investment in Adolescents, including helping parents navigate risks and vulnerabilities such as dropping out of school, identity crisis, gender confusion, hormonal changes, exposure to drugs, and early marriage and pregnancies, and capacitating parents to prepare adolescents for adulthood and citizenship and to invest in holistic development and active participation in society (Section 5).
The DSWD must regularly review and update the foregoing principles to keep abreast of responsible and effective parenting developments, and may develop and prescribe additional modules as necessary (Section 5).

Program research; analytical framework; evaluation metrics

The DSWD must conduct research, in coordination with DepEd, ECCD Council, SGCs, DOH, DOJ, and DILG through LGUs, focused on evidence-based policies and best practices on parent effectiveness and related areas such as child welfare, child development, adolescence, family, health, education, and social protection (Section 6).
An analytical framework must be established to determine how parent effectiveness and child development are interrelated (Section 6).
The analytical framework must be utilized to gauge resource use, evaluate efficiency, understand drivers of change and linkages between programmatic features and outcomes, and assess program sustainability (Section 6).
LGUs must continuously evaluate PES Program effectiveness using data-driven metrics, including participation rate of parents and parent-substitutes and children’s feedback on their parents and parent-substitutes (Section 6).

Implementation tools; barangay sessions; compliance effect

The PES Program, particularly parent effectiveness sessions, must be implemented by cities and municipalities through their respective social welfare and development offices and LGUs (Section 7).
Parent effectiveness sessions must be conducted in every barangay at a schedule and interval determined by the concerned social welfare and LGU officers (Section 7).
On an annual basis, these officers must prepare and submit to the local chief executive a complete program and schedule covering all barangays (Section 7).
Home visits may be used as an approach to facilitate parents and share skills and knowledge, recognizing and building on existing strengths of parents and parent-substitutes (Section 7).
The DSWD and LGUs are encouraged to develop other training mechanisms, including home and modular training packages deployed through social media (Section 7).
Distance PES Program may be used to raise awareness about responsible and effective parenting within the broader community (Section 7).
Private organizations accredited by the DSWD may implement the PES Program in coordination with the concerned LGU (Section 7).
PES Program implementation under this Act constitutes full and complete compliance with the PES component incorporated under Republic Act No. 10410 (Early Years Act of 2013) and other government programs requiring PES Program delivery as a condition for coverage and entitlement (Section 7).

Implementing agencies; responsibilities; incentives

Implementation of the PES Program is a joint responsibility of national government agencies, LGUs, nongovernment organizations, and other private organizations that promote parental and community involvement in the child’s learning and development (Section 8).
The DSWD is primarily responsible for promoting, strengthening, and enhancing the well-being of Filipino families through integrated, comprehensive, developmental services in a fair, just, and peaceful society, and must regularly review and update its programs supporting parents and parent-substitutes (Section 8).
The DepEd, ECCD Council, SGCs, and DOH must incorporate principles on social services, early education, learning and holistic development, health, and nutrition into the PES Program, and must provide supplementary learning and reference materials (Section 8).
DepEd must integrate age-appropriate content related to the core PES principles into the basic education curriculum (Section 8).
The DOJ must ensure the PES Program is guided by non-discrimination, the best interests of the child, and the right of the child to life, and must guarantee legal protection of all children (Section 8).
The DILG must recognize LGUs outstanding in PES Program implementation by providing annual recognition and a mechanism for their modules to be replicated or adopted by other LGUs (Section 8).
LGUs must coordinate with relevant government agencies to ensure PES Program implementation and may collaborate with DepEd Schools Division Offices for facilities for the conduct (Section 8).
LGUs must provide incentives to parents and parent-substitutes who actively participated or garnered high evaluation rates from their children in the PES Program (Section 8).
Families and communities must support the PES Program by participating in various projects for the overall development of children (Section 8).

Facilitator capacity building requirements

The DSWD, DepEd, DOH, DOJ, DILG, and LGUs must assist cities and municipalities in developing required competencies of facilitators (Section 9).
Local Social Welfare and Development Offices must identify a pool of trained facilitators based on criteria developed by the agencies, including but not limited to parents and parent-substitutes, educational psychologists, health professionals, social workers, teachers, accredited private organizations, and other paraprofessionals (Section 9).
Facilitator training must focus on skills to connect with families through mutually respectful and reciprocal engagement, set goals with families, prepare families to adopt behaviors and engage in activities enhancing children’s development and early learning, promote children’s rights, and prevent child abuse (Section 9).
LGU personnel training must focus on monitoring and evaluation of the PES Program, including facilities, modules, and facilitator competence assessment (Section 9).
LGUs must designate personnel trained to gather, analyze, and interpret data and establish a comprehensive action plan for more effective PES Program implementation (Section 9).

PES manuals; production timeline

The DSWD, in coordination with DepEd and ECCD Council, DOH, DOJ, and DILG through LGUs, must develop and produce PES Module Manuals within three (3) months from effectivity for facilitator use in conducting parent effectiveness sessions (Section 10).
The PES Module Manuals are subject to modifications by concerned LGUs for local adaptation (Section 10).
Assigned government agencies must harmonize existing modules gathered from, among others, PES, family development sessions, and Family Support Program to help enhance the PES Module Manuals (Section 10).

Advocacy and information dissemination

The DSWD, in cooperation with relevant agencies, must regularly conduct public awareness campaigns promoting the benefits and advantages of the PES Program to parents, surrogate parents, and care providers (Section 11).
Awareness must be promoted through local training programs in communities and through trimedia and social media platforms (Section 11).

Funding; charging rules; appropriation sources

For the first year of implementation, funds necessary to carry out responsibilities of DSWD, DepEd, ECCD Council, DOH, DOJ, and DILG must be sourced from their current appropriations (Section 12).
Thereafter, funding for continuing implementation must be included in the annual General Appropriations Act (Section 12).
Costs for conducting parent effectiveness sessions and other relevant expenses must be charged against the respective appropriations of cities and municipalities or the Special Education Fund, as the case may be (Section 12).

Implementing rules and regulations; publication effect

The DSWD must issue IRR within sixty (60) days from effectivity, in coordination with DepEd, ECCD Council, DOH, DOJ, and DILG (Section 13).
The IRR must take effect thirty (30) days after its publication in a newspaper of general circulation (Section 13).

Separability; repealing; amendments

Any part of the Act declared invalid or unconstitutional must not affect the remaining parts, which remain in full force and effect (Section 14).
All laws, presidential decrees, executive orders, administrative orders, rules and regulations, issuances, or parts thereof contrary to or inconsistent with the Act are repealed, amended, or modified accordingly (Section 15).