Section 5Sec./Art. 5

Establishment of the PES Program. There is hereby established a PES Program to assist all parents and parent-substitutes in strengthening their knowledge and skills in responding to their parental duties and responsibilities, protect and promote children's rights, foster positive early childhood development, and advance their educational progress. The PES Program shall be implemented in every city and municipality and shall consist of modules to be developed by the DSWD, in coordination with the Department of Education (DepEd), the Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) Council, the School Governing Councils (SGCs), the Department of Health (DOH), the Department of Justice (DOJ), and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), and rolled out in suchnumberof sessions as the DSWD and the LGUs may prescribe.

Subject to modifications by the concerned LGUs to adapt to local context, the core of the modules shall be consistent with existing laws and shall embody the following principles:

(a)Parents and Parent-Substitutes and their Roles and Needs. This aims to provide participants with a deeper understanding of their different roles, needs, responsibilities, and joy as parents and parent-substitutes by going through lessons that enrich their understanding of themselves as parents and guardians. Facilitators will help participants identify individual strengths and weaknesses, describe factors that affect the characteristics of their personhood, ascertain the divergent needs of married parents, solo parents, grandparents, and other guardians in the family, and clarify family values and goals aligned with strengthening their role as parents who are the best people to support all aspects of their children's growth and development, among others;

(b)The Filipino Family. This aims to give an overview of family dynamics in the Philippine context. Facilitators will help participants understand the importance, functions, and characteristics of the family, and inform them of the family's strengths and weaknesses to enable them to reflect building on their strengths to address their weaknesses so that they can be responsible members of the community, among others;

(c)Challenges of Parenting. This aims to provide participants with a more in-depth understanding of the obstacles that will be faced by parents and how stronger parenting skills will be able to address them. Innovations, technology, changes in values, and issues brought about by globalization and social media may be considered as challenges;

(d)Child Development. This aims to provide participants with a proper understanding of child growth and development, age-appropriate and development-appropriate interventions, different learning avenues for children, and domains of child development. This shall likewise include the importance of encouraging parents and parent-substitutes to fully support their children's cognitive development, most importantly their skills on reading, mathematics, science, and development;

(e)Keeping Children Safe from Abuse. This aims to prevent child abuse by educating parents about the rights of their children and familiarizing them with risk factors of warning signs of abuse in children. It shall present the basic principles on laws relevant to violence and abuse against children and how to report incidents thereon to the proper government authorities;

(f)Building the Child's Positive Behavior. This aims to improve parental understanding of child behavior and promote and support the development and socialization of the child. Basic theories on child behavior, character development, and factors that can positively or negatively affect the same shall be discussed;

(g)Health and Nutrition. This aims to provide adequate information on common health and nutrition needs of children, including reproductive health concerns, common childhood diseases, basic nutrition principles, and growth monitoring;

(h)Home Management. This aims to provide participants with practical ideas on how to manage their respective households through proper time, financial, and stress management;

(i)Keeping a Healthy Physical Environment for the Child. This aims to show the importance of maintaining clean physical environments to building a strong household. Waste management and community environmental management efforts shall be discussed;

(j)Keeping Children Safe in Times of Disasters. This aims to provide training on child-centered disaster risk reduction and management strategies to prepare and equip parents and parent-substitutes in preventing, mitigating, and coping with risks caused by disasters; and

(k)Investment in Adolescents. Adolescence is the developmental period during which a dependent child grows into an independent adult. This module aims to help parents and parent-substitutes to navigate their children's risks and vulnerabilities and set them on the path to fulfill their potential. Risks and vulnerabilities may include, but not limited to, dropping out of school, identity crisis, gender confusion, hormonal changes, exposure to drugs, early marriage and pregnancies. Parents and parent-substitutes shall be capacitated on how to empower their children by preparing them for adulthood and citizenship, and investing in their well-being, holistic development, and active participation in society.

The DSWD shall regularly review and update the foregoing principles to keep abreast with the developments on responsible and effective parenting and may develop and prescribe additional modules as may be necessary.

The LGUs may design and contextualize their own modules as they deem appropriate, taking into consideration the needs and challenges of the families in the communities under their respective jurisdictions, and the progress and result of the PES Program implementation:Provided, That such modifications are consistent with existing laws.