Gabay Aral PH

On November 29, we had the joy of welcoming volunteers from DTCC Manila for a meaningful outreach day with our Gabay Aral learners. DTCC Manila, a global financial services hub based in Makati that supports clearing, settlement, and financial data services worldwide, spent the day not just visiting, but truly engaging with the children—bringing food and treats, tutoring them, and sharing their time and encouragement.

A highlight of the outreach was their generous “Kusina Package” donation—an induction cooker, oven, pots and pans, and bakeware that will help us prepare nutritious and delicious meals for the kids. More than that, the kitchen tools—especially the oven—can also become a learning tool, where children can develop practical life skills such as cooking, measuring, teamwork, and responsibility. Their team also donated their volunteer points to Gabay Aral amounting to $162.50, a thoughtful contribution that will support our literacy programs.

We are deeply grateful to DTCC Manila for becoming KaGabay in our mission to help children read, learn, and dream. Partnerships like this show how companies can go beyond business and truly uplift communities. We look forward to building a lasting collaboration with DTCC and hope that more organizations will be inspired to become KaGabay in the journey to fight learning poverty.

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We are deeply honored and grateful that Gabay Aral, the literacy program of YMCA of Makati, was invited to submit our position on the state of basic education in the country particularly on the urgent issue of literacy.

Earlier today, YMCA Managing Director Ramona Morales, YMCA Secretary General Magda Gana, and Gabay Aral Vice-Chair Jazel Ann Lugay trooped to the Senate of the Philippines to share our community’s voice. We carried with us not just a paper, but the stories of struggling readers, dedicated volunteers, hopeful parents, and barangays that believe every child deserves a fair chance to learn.

As a volunteer-driven, community-based initiative, we may not claim to be education experts — but we bring lived experience from the ground. We see the faces behind the statistics. We witness the silent crisis of children who cannot read at their grade level. And we also see the power of communities, when parents, schools, churches, businesses, and barangays come together to become part of the solution.

Below is the position paper read by Magda Gana during the hearing.

Position Paper for the Senate’s Committee on Basic Education

SubmittedBy: Atty. Alex L. Lacson
Chairman, Gabay Aral Program
YMCA of Makati Inc.

Good morning, Senator Bam Aquino and the members and staff of the Committee.

Thank you for inviting Gabay Aral of YMCA Makati to be part of this study.

In 2022, the World Bank reported that nine (9) out of ten (10) Filipino children aged ten (10) and below could not read and understand simple texts in English. This finding was echoed in subsequent World Bank updates in 2024, as well as in recent findings of the EDCOM II.

This situation of learning poverty compelled us at the YMCA of Makati to do something, in our own little way, within our community, to help address this challenge.

As a non-government organization organized in 1971, we at the YMCA focused on youth development in Body, Mind, and Spirit, and have long organized programs supporting education through scholarships, tutorial initiatives, environmental responsibility campaigns, and youth entrepreneurship programs, while integrating faith and good Filipino values in all our activities.

Since 2013, we have been serving indigent children in Makati, including those in the public cemetery area, by providing simple breakfast every Saturday and teaching Christian values and good moral character through storytelling. We engaged youth volunteers from the clubs we organized in public high schools, known as the Hi-Y Clubs, to assist in these activities.

When the pandemic struck our communities, we had to halt our face-to-face activities and shift to online formation programs. However, we soon realized that two years of purely online learning and one year of blended learning had deeply affected the youth and children we served. We encountered many children who had progressed from Grade 1 to Grade 3 but still did not know how to read.

In response, we pivoted our program into a basic literacy initiative called Gabay Aral, which we launched on September 8, 2022. We opened this free tutorial program to public elementary school students who were struggling with reading and comprehension. During our first year, we encountered the father of one of our students who, at twenty-eight (28) years old, could not read. We included him in the tutorial program. This experience revealed to us that learning poverty can be intergenerational.

We developed our literacy modules by drawing from various available resources. Despite our limited funds, we invested in workbooks so that each child would have his or her own worksheets to answer and practice on. Year after year, the Lord provided volunteers who selflessly dedicated two hours every Saturday to teach a child. They are not professional teachers, but concerned citizens who simply want to help our country.

We partnered with the nearby church, the National Shrine of the Sacred Heart, which helped us announce calls for volunteers after Mass. We also coordinated with nearby public schools to help identify students who could not read and spoke with parents to encourage them to bring their children to our program.

Over the past four (4) years of implementing Gabay Aral, we have gained valuable lessons that we believe may assist this Committee in crafting policies and interventions to address learning poverty and improve foundational learning among Filipino children.

First, literacy requires an environment of love, care, and belonging.
Many of our learners come from broken or economically distressed homes. Before reading improves, dignity must be restored. Our volunteer tutors are trained to greet students warmly, call them by their first names, avoid shaming, and build trust. Each tutor handles only one to two learners for 20 to 30 sessions. A child who feels valued becomes willing to learn.

Second, foundational literacy must be simplified, systematic, and values-oriented.
We use structured phonics, alphabet sounds first in Filipino, then in English, combined with writing practice, blending, repetition, storytelling, music, arts, and games. But literacy is not mechanical. Every session integrates values such as honesty, discipline, respect, compassion, love of family, love of country, and faith in God. Reading should form both competence and character.

Third, repetition and mastery are essential.
Children progress at different paces. We do not advance learners unless they demonstrate actual reading ability. We provide reinforcement and make-up sessions when needed. Mastery builds confidence. Social promotion without skill acquisition deepens future gaps.

Fourth, early screening and professional diagnosis must be strengthened.
We have encountered children who continue to struggle despite repetition and support. Some may have undiagnosed learning disabilities. We respectfully recommend structured early screening and accessible professional diagnosis for persistently struggling learners, conducted by licensed specialists. The goal is not labeling, but timely intervention and the creation of individualized learning plans. Without early identification, children fall further behind each year.

Fifth, learning must be meaningful and not driven by excessive pressure.
Inspired by best practices in high-performing systems such as the one in Finland, we simplified assessments and reduced test-heavy approaches. We measure reading fluency, comprehension, writing ability, and confidence, not merely scores. When children enjoy learning, they retain concepts more deeply.

Sixth, hunger directly affects learning.
One afternoon, a child cried before tutorial began because he had not eaten the entire day. That moment taught us a simple truth: we cannot teach a hungry child. We now provide simple and healthy snacks before sessions. Nutrition and literacy cannot be separated in low-income communities.

Seventh, struggling learners deserve safe and conducive learning spaces.
While street-based teaching reflects compassion, children deserve stable and dignified literacy hubs. A structured environment provides safety, emotional security, and freedom from harmful distractions. More importantly, a safe learning space is not only conducive to literacy, it is conducive to dreaming. In a quiet room, a child begins to imagine becoming a teacher, an engineer, a chief of police. A literacy center is not merely a tutoring venue. It is a declaration that the child matters.

Gabay Aral does not compete with the Department of Education. We supplement. Teachers already carry heavy responsibilities from Monday to Friday. Community volunteers can help bridge the gap on weekends. Literacy recovery requires government, schools, civil society, faith communities, and families working together.

In this light, we respectfully recommend that government mandate the establishment of volunteer-driven supplementary literacy programs in all public elementary schools, particularly in Grades K to 6.

Such programs may operate after school hours or on weekends, mobilizing trained community volunteers to provide one-on-one or small-group reading support for struggling learners. Government may provide a framework for training, supervision, and coordination, while schools partner with civil society, faith-based institutions, universities, and local communities.
A structured national policy on volunteer-based supplementary literacy will not replace teachers. It will strengthen them. It will multiply hands, hearts, and hours devoted to helping every child read.

Addressing learning poverty requires a collective effort from government, schools, civil society, faith communities, and families working together.

Our dream is simple: a Gabay Aral Center in every community where anyone who can read teaches one who cannot, freely and with dignity, in a space safe enough to learn and hopeful enough to dream.

Honorable Chair and members of the Committee, learning poverty is not merely a statistic. It is the Grade 5 child who hides during reading time. It is the teenager who memorizes because he cannot decode. It is the father who cannot read his own child’s report card.

If we are to secure the future of our nation, we must ensure that every Filipino child masters the simple yet powerful ability to read with understanding.

The YMCA of Makati stands ready to partner with government in this urgent national mission — one child, one volunteer, one community at a time.

Ms. Claudette delivered an insightful and informative talk at Gabay Aral, and we truly value the knowledge and perspective she generously shared with our community. In appreciation of her contribution, we would be glad to extend our support to her in any way we can. We are also posting this here to further amplify her message and show our gratitude for her time and expertise.

Forty years ago, history changed along Epifanio de los Santos Avenue.

In 1986, ordinary Filipinos stood together during the People Power Revolution, choosing courage over fear, truth over silence, and democracy over abuse.

As we mark 40 years of EDSA, we remember that freedom is not just won in the streets. It is protected in classrooms.

At Gabay Aral, we believe educating the youth is our quiet but powerful way of honoring EDSA. When children learn to read, think critically, and stand firm in values, they grow into citizens who can discern truth, demand accountability, and defend democracy.

The abuses that led to EDSA happened when voices were silenced and minds were uninformed. May we never allow that again.

Forty years later, the responsibility continues and it begins with education.

Celebrating you today!
Thank you for walking alongside our students with patience and love. We are truly grateful for your commitment to Gabay Aral. Have a beautiful birthday Teacher Aida!

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Happy Birthday Teacher Adi!
Your generosity of time and spirit has planted seeds of hope in many young hearts. Gabay Aral is better because of you.

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Warmest birthday wishes Teacher Ernie!
Thank you for being more than a volunteer. You are a mentor, a guide, and a blessing to our learners. May your day be filled with the same joy you give others.

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Happy Birthday to a true Gabay Aral hero!
Your quiet sacrifices and big heart make learning possible for our kids. We are grateful for you, today and always.

Happy birthday Teacher Lorraine 💜💛

So many Filipino children are in school but not truly learning. That’s what learning poverty looks like — kids moving up grade levels without being able to read, understand, and think at the level they deserve. And behind every statistic is a child who might start believing they are “slow,” when really, the system just hasn’t caught them in time.

But this is not just the school’s problem.
Not just the teachers’.
Not just the government’s.
This is a community issue.

A child’s learning is shaped by the whole village — parents, volunteers, neighbors, faith groups, LGUs, private partners, young people who give their time, and even those who simply choose to care. When a community decides that every child must learn, things change. Reading corners appear. Tutors show up. Older kids mentor younger ones. Donations turn into books. Time turns into transformation.

This is exactly why Gabay Aral exists.
We are committed to being part of the solution to learning poverty, one child, one session, one volunteer at a time. We believe that when children are supported, encouraged, and taught with patience and love, they bloom. And when communities step in, gaps begin to close. The EDCOM 2 report tells us the problem is big.
But it also reminds us: the solution is bigger when we work together.

If you’ve ever wondered how you can help, this is it.

Your time, your skills, your voice, your support — they matter more than you think. Because no child should be left behind simply because no one showed up.
Let’s be the community that shows up.

Support Gabay Aral. Volunteer. Donate.

Our hearts are heavy as we remember Krizza Leen Bacar or Tali to those close to her.

A quiet and lovely soul, gentle and kind, with a joy that came alive when she danced with her friends. That is how we will always remember her, soft-spoken, warm, and carrying a light all her own.

Tali was deeply loved, and she will always be remembered. Please keep her and her family in your prayers during this very difficult time.

We also want to say thank you to the volunteers who extended help and donated during this time. Your kindness and generosity are deeply appreciated.

To our dear Tali, go and rest in the loving arms of Jesus, where there is no more pain, no more tears, only peace. We, your family at Gabay Aral, loves you and we will miss you.

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Gabay Aral welcomed Fr. Robert Reyes today. More popularly known as the "running priest," he is a tireless fighter for freedom and justice. His visit affirms that literacy is an act of resistance and the fight for education is part of the fight for dignity.

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