The Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM II), created by Congress to review the state of Philippine education, said Thursday that a majority of Filipino households still lack access to children's books, a gap it flagged as a persistent obstacle to raising reading proficiency among the country's youth.

“Sixty percent of Filipino homes do not have books for their kids [because] it is inaccessible,” EDCOM II Executive Director Karol Mark R. Yee said during a panel discussion at the Philippine Media and Information Literacy Conference 2026.

Mr. Yee noted that children's books are even harder to find in rural areas, particularly in Mindanao, where reading proficiency is also reportedly low.

Children aged 0 to 4 require books with large, colored pictures. Yet some parents who cannot obtain age-appropriate titles make do with photocopies of books sold at nearby sari-sari stores, the small neighborhood convenience stores common throughout the Philippines.

“You need specifically designed books at each level to help a child really progress and to stimulate thinking,” Mr. Yee said. “There are no parents who wish harm upon their children, but how can we support parents to know exactly what they can do for their child, and how do we make it easy for them to do it,” he added.

Jane Rustial Tiongco-Aguirre, country head of Scholastic Philippines, Inc., said parents need guidance on how age-appropriate books help develop reading proficiency.

“I think it's just a matter of informing the parents which books are age-appropriate for their children,” she said in mixed English and Filipino. “That's why we have a lot of book variations.”

“There is really a certain type of book for a certain type of age, and that's our job as publishers to know what type of book is for a certain age and what the interests of the readers are,” she added.

Richelle Sy-Kho, ex-officio of the Philippine Association for Media and Information Literacy, said parents must also model reading behavior to build the habit at home.

“You have to model, practice what you preach. If you want your kids to be readers, you have to be a reader,” she said.

Grade 3 as the Turning Point

EDCOM II is pushing for children to master foundational skills by Grade 3, which it describes as a critical turning point when learning shifts from learning to read to reading to learn.

“Even if we have a good curriculum, if we don't have the foundation among Grade 3 learners who know how to read, we are going to struggle with teaching them sophisticated competencies,” Mr. Yee said. “If there's a kid who doesn't know how to read in Grade 3, all of us will be affected,” he added.

Data from the commission showed that 10%, or 511,800, of about 5.13 million Grade 1 to 3 learners were struggling at the end of School Year 2025-2026.

The Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao accounted for 23.5% of struggling readers nationwide, followed by Soccsksargen at 17.7%. Zamboanga Peninsula, Bicol, Davao, and Mimaropa trailed with 14.7%, 12%, 11.7%, and 11.3%, respectively. Four of the six — Bangsamoro, Soccsksargen, Zamboanga Peninsula, and Davao — are in Mindanao, the area Mr. Yee singled out for its scarcity of children's books and reportedly low reading proficiency.

Call for Local Government Action

Separately, Senate President Sherwin T. Gatchalian said Thursday that stronger interventions by local government units (LGUs) must be carried out alongside existing reading initiatives, as more than half of Filipino learners remain unable to read grade-level material independently.

In a statement, Mr. Gatchalian called on LGUs to actively mobilize, build on reading gains, and combat illiteracy across the country.

“In our efforts to improve literacy and the reading proficiency of our students, local government units… play a crucial role — especially since they have a better understanding of the challenges and needs of the students within their jurisdictions,” he said.

Mr. Gatchalian authored proposed Senate Bill No. 628, or the National Literacy Council Act, which mandates Local School Boards to act as de facto local literacy councils, formulating data-driven local roadmaps to combat illiteracy. If enacted, the bill would put that mandate into law.

He noted that the Philippines improved its reading performance in the 2025 Programme for International Student Assessment — a triennial assessment of 15-year-olds' reading, mathematics, and science skills conducted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development — but said continued reforms will be needed to ensure all Filipino learners achieve literacy.

In May, EDCOM II reported that 58.9% of learners cannot read grade-level material independently, while 28.5% needed teacher support to understand texts.

— Almira Louise S. Martinez with Francessca S. Abalos, BusinessWorld