# Which LGUs Carry Several Early-Childhood Burdens?

213 of 1,639 LGUs carry at least three of four early-childhood burdens: stunting, struggling readers, missing CDCs and classroom shortage. 83 are in BARMM.

This is the Markdown copy of [Which LGUs Carry Several Early-Childhood Burdens?](https://nash.com.ph/blog/lgu-early-childhood-burdens), an article on the NASH Reviewer Blog by Mark Anthony Llego, published Nov 13, 2026. Topics: DepEd data, Learning outcomes, School resources. NASH Reviewer is an independent practice platform not affiliated with DepEd, BHROD, or NEAP.

Of the 1,639 Philippine cities and municipalities with early-grade reading results, 213 carry at least three of four early-childhood burdens, and 43 carry all four. The four are stunting among children under 2, struggling readers in Grades 1–3, barangays without a child development center (CDC), and the classroom shortage, each counted when the LGU is above the national rate. The 213 hold 12.1% of the learners assessed but 21.3% of the country's struggling readers, 22.0% of its stunted children under 2 and 36.4% of its barangays without a CDC. BARMM has 83 of them, and 27 of the 43 with all four.

Nationally, the burdens pile up more than chance would produce: 213 LGUs carry three or more, against 171 expected if the four were unrelated. Outside BARMM and Sulu, the count is no more than chance: 117 against 112.6 expected. And one burden follows the local government's income class: among municipalities, stunting rises from 4.8% in first-class towns to 9.3% in fifth-class towns, while struggling readers, CDC gaps and the classroom shortage do not rise.

The data are the early-childhood figures of the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM II) [ECCD dashboard](https://edcom2.gov.ph/eccddashboard/): Operation Timbang Plus (OPT Plus) 2025, the DILG list of barangays without a CDC and DepEd's Comprehensive Rapid Literacy Assessment (CRLA) at the end of SY 2025-26, with DepEd's 2023 classroom shortage from EDCOM II's classroom construction dashboard. They describe places, not children.

## Key findings

- 213 of 1,639 cities and municipalities (13.0%) carry three or more of the four burdens and 43 carry all four; 383 carry none (OPT Plus 2025; DILG CBMS; CRLA end of SY 2025-26; classroom shortage 2023).
- The 213 hold 12.1% of learners assessed, 21.3% of struggling readers, 22.0% of stunted children under 2, 36.4% of barangays without a CDC and 17.2% of the classroom shortage (same data).
- BARMM has 83 of the 213 (77.6% of its 107 LGUs) and 27 of the 43 with all four; Region VIII has 26, Region IV-A 21 and Region IX 18. Region VI has none (same data, by PSGC region).
- Struggling readers and the classroom shortage are the most closely linked pair (phi 0.21), then CDC gaps and the shortage (0.17); stunting is nearly unrelated to the other three (phi 0.02 or less) (same data).
- Nationally, 213 LGUs with three or more is more than the 171 expected by chance (permutation p = 0.0001); outside BARMM and Sulu, 117 against 112.6 expected is no more than chance (p = 0.32) (permutation test, 9,999 shuffles).
- Among 1,482 municipalities, stunting under 2 rises from 4.8% in first class to 9.3% in fifth class (odds ratio 1.14 per class step, 95% interval 1.06 to 1.23); struggling readers fall from 10.8% to 8.6% (OPT Plus 2025; CRLA end of SY 2025-26; income class from the EDCOM II classroom data).

## The four burdens and how each is counted

An LGU carries a burden when its rate is above the national rate. For stunting and reading, where small towns can land high or low by chance, the test is stricter: the LGU must be above the national share with a probability above 90%.

| Burden | Measure | Data and date | National rate | LGUs flagged |
|:--|:--|:--|--:|--:|
| Stunting | Stunted and severely stunted children aged 0–23 months, as a share of children classified | OPT Plus 2025, as of 2 March 2026 | 4.1% | 713 |
| Struggling readers | Grade 1–3 learners at the Low Emerging or High Emerging level of the CRLA | CRLA, end of SY 2025-26, as of 10 May 2026 | 10.0% | 517 |
| Barangays without a CDC | Share of the LGU's barangays on the DILG list | DILG CBMS list, as of 17 September 2025 | 10.9% (4,581 of 41,959) | 412 |
| Classroom shortage | 2023 shortage per 1,000 learners enrolled in SY 2024-25 | DepEd classroom shortage 2023 | 7.3 per 1,000 | 515 |

The probability comes from an empirical Bayes estimate. Each LGU's raw share is pulled toward the national share, more strongly when few children or learners were counted, and the estimate carries its own uncertainty. A town of 40 learners with 6 struggling readers (15%) is too small to be sure it is above 10%; a town of 4,000 with 600 is not.

The stunting share divides by all children classified as normal, stunted or severely stunted. The EDCOM II dashboard divides by children of normal height only, which gives 4.3% nationally; [Stunting, Day Care Centers and Early Reading](https://nash.com.ph/blog/stunting-day-care-and-reading#correction) explains the difference, and [How to Read EDCOM's LGU Early Childhood Report Card](https://nash.com.ph/blog/edcom-lgu-early-childhood-report-card) shows what it does on the LGU report card.

## How many burdens each LGU carries

| Burdens | Cities and municipalities | Expected if the four were unrelated |
|--:|--:|--:|
| 0 | 383 | 325.4 |
| 1 | 611 | 658.9 |
| 2 | 432 | 483.6 |
| 3 | 170 | 153.3 |
| 4 | 43 | 17.8 |

More LGUs than expected carry none, and more than twice as many as expected carry all four. The burdens gather in the same places.

![Map of 1,639 cities and municipalities shaded by the number of four early-childhood burdens each carries: 43 with all four, mostly in Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Norte, Maguindanao del Sur, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, with others in Palawan, Samar and Davao Occidental; 170 with three; 432 with two; 611 with one; 383 with none.](https://nash.com.ph/blog/_astro/lgu-burdens-map.DP9oD1rO_k8Hgm.webp)

*Figure 1. Number of early-childhood burdens each city and municipality carries: stunting under 2, struggling readers in Grades 1–3, barangays without a CDC and the classroom shortage, each above the national rate. Data: OPT Plus 2025, DILG CBMS list and DepEd CRLA end of SY 2025-26 (EDCOM II ECCD dashboard); DepEd classroom shortage 2023 and SY 2024-25 enrollment (EDCOM II classroom dashboard); boundaries PSA and NAMRIA. Chart: © 2026 Mark Anthony Llego, NASH Reviewer. [Download the full-resolution chart (PNG)](https://nash.com.ph/blog/charts/deped-data/lgu-burdens-map.png) or [its data (CSV)](https://nash.com.ph/blog/charts/deped-data/lgu-burdens-map.csv).*

The 213 LGUs with three or more carry far more than their share of each burden:

| | All 1,639 LGUs | In the 213 with three or more | In the 43 with all four |
|:--|--:|--:|--:|
| Learners assessed | 100% | 12.1% | 1.7% |
| Struggling readers | 100% | 21.3% | 4.0% |
| Children under 2 classified | 100% | 12.5% | 1.7% |
| Stunted children under 2 | 100% | 22.0% | 4.7% |
| Barangays without a CDC | 100% | 36.4% | 6.2% |
| Classroom shortage | 100% | 17.2% | 3.0% |

## Which burdens go together

Stunting alone is the most common pattern, in 270 LGUs. Struggling readers alone come next (126), then stunting with struggling readers (118). Among the combinations of three, stunting, struggling readers and the shortage (56) and struggling readers, CDC gaps and the shortage (56) are the most common.

![Bar chart of the 15 combinations of the four burdens among 1,256 LGUs with at least one: stunting alone 270, struggling readers alone 126, stunting and struggling readers 118, down to stunting, struggling readers and CDC gaps 17; all four in 43.](https://nash.com.ph/blog/_astro/lgu-burdens-combinations.4q1_sj6P_gpKCI.webp)

*Figure 2. Cities and municipalities by the combination of burdens they carry, for the 1,256 with at least one. Data: OPT Plus 2025, DILG CBMS list and DepEd CRLA end of SY 2025-26 (EDCOM II ECCD dashboard); DepEd classroom shortage 2023 and SY 2024-25 enrollment. Chart: © 2026 Mark Anthony Llego, NASH Reviewer. [Download the full-resolution chart (PNG)](https://nash.com.ph/blog/charts/deped-data/lgu-burdens-combinations.png) or [its data (CSV)](https://nash.com.ph/blog/charts/deped-data/lgu-burdens-combinations.csv).*

The phi coefficient measures how closely two yes-or-no flags are linked: 0 means they go together no more often than chance, 1 that they always go together, and a negative value that they go together less often than chance:

| Pair | Phi |
|:--|--:|
| Struggling readers and classroom shortage | 0.21 |
| Barangays without a CDC and classroom shortage | 0.17 |
| Stunting and struggling readers | 0.02 |
| Stunting and barangays without a CDC | 0.02 |
| Struggling readers and barangays without a CDC | 0.02 |
| Stunting and classroom shortage | 0.00 |

Stunting stands apart. A town's stunting says little about its reading results, its CDCs or its classrooms, which matches what [Stunting, Day Care Centers and Early Reading](https://nash.com.ph/blog/stunting-day-care-and-reading) found for stunting and reading. [Where Struggling Readers and Classroom Shortages Meet](https://nash.com.ph/blog/struggling-readers-classroom-shortage) looks at the strongest pair in detail.

## Is the overlap more than chance?

If the four burdens were unrelated, how many LGUs would carry three or more by chance alone? A permutation test answers this: it shuffles each burden's flags among the LGUs, keeping the number of LGUs with each burden, and counts the LGUs with three or more. Across 9,999 shuffles the average is 171.1, and none reached the observed 213 (p = 0.0001). For all four, the average is 17.8 against 43 observed (p = 0.0001).

The excess comes from one part of the country. Outside BARMM and Sulu, 117 LGUs carry three or more, against an average of 112.6 in the shuffles, and 32% of shuffles reach 117 (p = 0.32). That does not make the burdens unrelated there. Outside BARMM and Sulu, struggling readers still go with the classroom shortage (phi 0.10) and less often than chance with CDC gaps (phi -0.10), and the two links offset each other in the count.

## Where the LGUs with several burdens are

| Region | Cities and municipalities | Three or more | Share of the region's LGUs | All four |
|:--|--:|--:|--:|--:|
| BARMM | 107 | 83 | 77.6% | 27 |
| Region VIII | 143 | 26 | 18.2% | 3 |
| Region IV-A | 142 | 21 | 14.8% | 0 |
| Region IX | 89 | 18 | 20.2% | 6 |
| MIMAROPA | 73 | 12 | 16.4% | 3 |
| Region V | 114 | 10 | 8.8% | 1 |
| Region X | 93 | 10 | 10.8% | 0 |
| Region VII | 101 | 7 | 6.9% | 1 |
| Region XII | 49 | 5 | 10.2% | 0 |
| Region II | 93 | 4 | 4.3% | 0 |
| Caraga | 73 | 4 | 5.5% | 0 |
| Region XI | 49 | 4 | 8.2% | 2 |
| CAR | 77 | 3 | 3.9% | 0 |
| NIR | 63 | 2 | 3.2% | 0 |
| Region III | 130 | 2 | 1.5% | 0 |
| Region I | 125 | 1 | 0.8% | 0 |
| NCR | 17 | 1 | 5.9% | 0 |
| Region VI | 101 | 0 | 0.0% | 0 |

Sulu is counted in Region IX, where the PSGC places it. Five of Region IX's six LGUs with all four are in Sulu.

### The 43 cities and municipalities with all four

| Province | City or municipality | Stunting under 2 (estimate) | Struggling readers (estimate) | Barangays without a CDC | Short per 1,000 learners |
|:--|:--|--:|--:|--:|--:|
| Basilan | Al-Barka | 11.4% | 11.8% | 62.5% | 16.9 |
| Basilan | City of Lamitan | 11.1% | 27.3% | 28.9% | 9.8 |
| Basilan | Hadji Muhtamad | 21.7% | 36.7% | 20.0% | 15.6 |
| Basilan | Lantawan | 22.2% | 13.0% | 52.0% | 17.9 |
| Basilan | Sumisip | 11.0% | 26.2% | 65.5% | 16.9 |
| Basilan | Tabuan-Lasa | 20.3% | 42.9% | 58.3% | 20.7 |
| Basilan | Tipo-Tipo | 11.9% | 19.0% | 45.5% | 16.3 |
| Basilan | Tuburan | 5.8% | 17.3% | 20.0% | 9.6 |
| Basilan | Ungkaya Pukan | 15.7% | 26.9% | 25.0% | 16.5 |
| Lanao del Sur | Buadiposo-Buntong | 8.8% | 13.1% | 48.5% | 13.2 |
| Lanao del Sur | Lumbaca-Unayan | 25.9% | 17.1% | 44.4% | 15.4 |
| Lanao del Sur | Marogong | 12.8% | 13.1% | 45.8% | 13.3 |
| Lanao del Sur | Picong (Sultan Gumander) | 8.6% | 24.9% | 36.8% | 16.5 |
| Lanao del Sur | Saguiaran | 6.3% | 12.8% | 66.7% | 15.6 |
| Lanao del Sur | Sultan Dumalondong | 8.1% | 39.7% | 14.3% | 13.6 |
| Lanao del Sur | Tugaya | 5.7% | 13.2% | 13.0% | 14.3 |
| Lanao del Sur | Wao | 12.2% | 21.5% | 11.5% | 10.5 |
| Maguindanao del Norte | Barira | 5.5% | 30.1% | 28.6% | 13.5 |
| Maguindanao del Norte | Upi | 4.7% | 20.6% | 34.8% | 14.8 |
| Maguindanao del Sur | Datu Anggal Midtimbang | 12.7% | 33.7% | 28.6% | 16.0 |
| Maguindanao del Sur | Gen. S.K. Pendatun | 6.2% | 37.4% | 52.6% | 16.8 |
| Maguindanao del Sur | Mangudadatu | 5.8% | 20.7% | 12.5% | 13.0 |
| Tawi-Tawi | Bongao | 11.4% | 33.3% | 48.6% | 20.7 |
| Tawi-Tawi | Languyan | 14.7% | 56.4% | 25.0% | 27.3 |
| Tawi-Tawi | Mapun | 18.5% | 35.0% | 26.7% | 32.6 |
| Tawi-Tawi | Panglima Sugala | 16.1% | 23.8% | 17.6% | 30.8 |
| Tawi-Tawi | South Ubian | 12.9% | 27.6% | 48.4% | 26.5 |
| Occidental Mindoro | Paluan | 24.1% | 14.1% | 25.0% | 11.6 |
| Palawan | Balabac | 9.0% | 17.7% | 20.0% | 11.3 |
| Palawan | Culion | 6.4% | 16.2% | 14.3% | 8.1 |
| Sulu | Kalingalan Caluang | 19.2% | 40.0% | 11.1% | 14.6 |
| Sulu | Maimbung | 15.9% | 30.8% | 14.8% | 15.4 |
| Sulu | Pangutaran | 26.3% | 16.4% | 12.5% | 13.1 |
| Sulu | Parang | 5.6% | 32.6% | 27.5% | 12.8 |
| Sulu | Patikul | 5.7% | 41.3% | 16.7% | 10.4 |
| Zamboanga del Norte | Sirawai | 10.0% | 14.1% | 11.8% | 8.2 |
| Camarines Sur | Goa | 6.8% | 13.9% | 11.8% | 7.7 |
| Cebu | Balamban | 8.6% | 17.6% | 17.9% | 8.1 |
| Northern Samar | Silvino Lobos | 6.7% | 25.7% | 15.4% | 11.6 |
| Samar | Almagro | 9.3% | 14.1% | 43.5% | 10.0 |
| Samar | San Jorge | 16.0% | 15.5% | 22.0% | 14.0 |
| Davao Occidental | Don Marcelino | 8.1% | 22.5% | 20.0% | 7.9 |
| Davao Occidental | Jose Abad Santos | 17.4% | 17.9% | 23.1% | 8.8 |

The stunting and reading columns are the empirical Bayes estimates, which pull small towns' shares toward the national share. Every LGU's raw counts are in the downloadable table.

## Stunting and LGU income class

An LGU's income class, set by the Department of Finance, ranks local governments by average annual income, from first class (highest) to fifth. It measures the local government's revenue, not its residents' poverty, and cities and municipalities are classed on separate scales. The comparison below covers the 1,482 municipalities with an income class; the 149 cities and the 8 municipalities of BARMM's Special Geographic Area are left out.

![Four dot plots with 95% intervals of pooled rates by municipal income class, 1,482 municipalities: stunting under 2 rises from 4.8% in first class to 9.3% in fifth; struggling readers fall from 10.8% to 8.6%; barangays without a CDC range from 7.7% to 10.9% with no trend; the classroom shortage stays between 6.2 and 6.5 per 1,000 learners.](https://nash.com.ph/blog/_astro/lgu-burdens-income-class.CQAV052__Z2l7gbj.webp)

*Figure 3. Pooled rates of the four burdens by municipal income class, with 95% intervals from a bootstrap over provinces. Data: OPT Plus 2025, DILG CBMS list and DepEd CRLA end of SY 2025-26 (EDCOM II ECCD dashboard); DepEd classroom shortage 2023, SY 2024-25 enrollment and LGU income class (EDCOM II classroom dashboard). Chart: © 2026 Mark Anthony Llego, NASH Reviewer. [Download the full-resolution chart (PNG)](https://nash.com.ph/blog/charts/deped-data/lgu-burdens-income-class.png) or [its data (CSV)](https://nash.com.ph/blog/charts/deped-data/lgu-burdens-income-class.csv).*

| Income class | Municipalities | Stunting under 2 | Struggling readers | Barangays without a CDC | Short per 1,000 learners |
|:--|--:|--:|--:|--:|--:|
| 1st | 694 | 4.8% | 10.8% | 7.7% | 6.5 |
| 2nd | 246 | 5.8% | 10.3% | 10.4% | 6.2 |
| 3rd | 236 | 6.1% | 9.8% | 10.9% | 6.3 |
| 4th | 243 | 6.6% | 9.2% | 9.2% | 6.4 |
| 5th | 63 | 9.3% | 8.6% | 7.8% | 6.2 |

A trend model puts a number on each pattern. It relates each burden to the income class, one step at a time, with standard errors that allow for towns in the same province resembling each other; the second version compares municipalities only within their own region.

| Burden | Change per step down in income class, all municipalities (95% interval) | Within regions (95% interval) |
|:--|:--|:--|
| Stunting under 2 (odds ratio) | 1.14 (1.06 to 1.23) | 1.07 (1.01 to 1.12) |
| Struggling readers (odds ratio) | 0.95 (0.87 to 1.03) | 0.92 (0.88 to 0.96) |
| Barangays without a CDC (odds ratio) | 1.09 (0.99 to 1.20) | 1.00 (0.93 to 1.08) |
| Classroom shortage (rate ratio) | 0.99 (0.91 to 1.07) | 0.94 (0.89 to 0.98) |

Stunting rises clearly as income class falls, and the rise holds within regions, though it is smaller there. Struggling readers do not rise; within regions, lower-income-class municipalities have slightly fewer, and the shortage per learner is slightly lower. CDC gaps show no trend. The 149 cities, pooled, have less stunting (2.6%) than any class of municipality, and 9.1% struggling readers.

Income class follows size as well as wealth, so a fifth-class town is usually a small one. [Classroom Allocation by LGU Income Class, 2026](https://nash.com.ph/blog/classroom-allocation-lgu-income-class) shows how much of the income-class pattern in classrooms is really about size. For stunting, the fifth-class estimate rests on 63 municipalities and its interval is wide (7.0% to 11.9%), but every class from second to fifth is above first.

## How stable the list is

The list of LGUs with three or more burdens barely changes when the rules change:

| Change | LGUs with three or more | With all four | Overlap with the main list |
|:--|--:|--:|--:|
| Probability threshold 80% instead of 90% | 223 | 45 | 95.5% |
| Probability threshold 95% | 208 | 41 | 97.7% |
| Stunting under 5 instead of under 2 | 233 | 49 | 89.8% |
| Classroom shortage left after SBP 2026 | 218 | 42 | 92.4% |

The overlap is the Jaccard index: LGUs on both lists as a share of LGUs on either. Using the shortage that remains after the classrooms planned under the School Building Program (SBP) 2026 changes the list little, because, counting each school's new classrooms only up to its own shortage, those classrooms meet 9.9% of the 2023 shortage in the 213 LGUs (10.4% across all 1,639).

## What this means for school heads

The four burdens are handled by different offices: nutrition by the municipal health and nutrition offices, child development centers by the LGU's social welfare and ECCD offices, reading by the schools and the division, and classrooms by DepEd and the LGU through the Local School Board. In a town that carries three or four, no single office sees the whole picture. A school head who brings it together, with the [table for all 1,639 LGUs](https://nash.com.ph/blog/charts/deped-data/lgu-burdens-lgus.csv), helps the town decide where to start.

EDCOM II's [LGU Resource Center](https://edcom2.gov.ph/lguresources/#templates) has template ordinances and resolutions for three of the four burdens, and several that address them together; none is about classrooms. EDCOM II describes them as "evolving drafts":

| Burden | EDCOM II template |
|:--|:--|
| Stunting | 5, Institutionalizing and Scaling Up the Integrated Health and Nutrition Program for the First 1,000 Days (6, Implementing the Institutionalized National Feeding Program, covers older children in CDCs and schools) |
| Barangays without a CDC | 7, Institutionalizing ECCD Programs |
| Struggling readers | 8, Creating Barangay Reading Nooks; 9, Institutionalizing the Local Implementation of the ARAL Program |
| Several at once | 1, Establishing a City/Municipal Education Office; 3, Expanding the Membership of the Local School Board; 4, Resolution Calling for Urgent Action to Address the Learning Crisis |

The Special Education Fund can pay for the ECCD Program, including child development centers and locally hired Child Development Teachers and Day Care Workers, under [Joint Circular No. 01, s. 2025](https://www.deped.gov.ph/2026/03/03/deped-dbm-dilg-joint-memorandum-circular-no-01-s-2025-omnibus-guidelines-on-the-use-of-the-special-education-fund-sef/) (Annex C). The circular exempts their pay from the Local Government Code's personal services limits (Sec. 6.7), a change the Playbook credits to the circular and to Republic Act No. 12199, the ECCD System Act (p. 10). [Local School Boards and the Special Education Fund](https://nash.com.ph/blog/local-school-board-special-education-fund) explains what the fund can pay for and when the board plans it.

Inside the school, the burdens show up in the Kindergarten and Grade 1 classes. Ask parents at Kindergarten enrollment whether their child attended a CDC, and ask the barangay nutrition scholars and child development workers how many of the incoming learners were stunted or never attended one, so the school can plan Kindergarten transition and early reading support. A named child's health record is sensitive personal information, so ask for counts, not lists. Use the school's own CRLA results, not the town's, to decide which learners need help. Working with these local partners is part of [Domain 5, Building Connections](https://nash.com.ph/blog/ppssh-domain-5-building-connections), and planning from the data is part of [Domain 1, Leading Strategically](https://nash.com.ph/blog/ppssh-domain-1-leading-strategically).

## Frequently asked questions

### Which LGUs have the most early-childhood burdens?

43 cities and municipalities carry all four: stunting, struggling readers, barangays without a CDC and a classroom shortage, each above the national rate. 27 are in BARMM, 5 in Sulu, 3 in Region VIII, 3 in MIMAROPA, 2 in Davao Occidental and 1 each in Zamboanga del Norte, Camarines Sur and Cebu. The table above lists them all.

### Do lower-income-class municipalities have more stunting?

Yes. Among the 1,482 municipalities with an income class, stunting among children under 2 rises from 4.8% in first-class towns to 9.3% in fifth-class towns, and each step down goes with 1.14 times the odds of stunting (95% interval 1.06 to 1.23). Struggling readers, CDC gaps and the classroom shortage do not rise with lower income class (OPT Plus 2025; CRLA end of SY 2025-26; DILG CBMS; DepEd classroom shortage 2023).

### Do LGUs with stunting also have more struggling readers?

Hardly. The flags for stunting and struggling readers go together barely more than chance (phi 0.02; OPT Plus 2025 and CRLA end of SY 2025-26). The two meet in 118 LGUs with no other burden, and in 234 counting those with other burdens too, but most towns with high stunting do not have many struggling readers.

### Is an LGU with no burden doing well?

Only relative to the national rates: 4.1% stunting under 2, 10.0% struggling readers, 10.9% of barangays without a CDC and 7.3 classrooms short per 1,000 learners. An LGU below them still has stunted children and struggling readers. The table gives each town's own counts.

## Download the data

- [lgu-burdens-lgus.csv](https://nash.com.ph/blog/charts/deped-data/lgu-burdens-lgus.csv): all 1,639 cities and municipalities with CRLA results, with the four burdens (yes or no), the number carried, the income class, and for each burden the count, the estimate and, for stunting and reading, the probability of being above the national share. Sources: OPT Plus 2025, DILG CBMS list and DepEd CRLA end of SY 2025-26 (EDCOM II ECCD dashboard); DepEd classroom shortage 2023 and SY 2024-25 enrollment (EDCOM II classroom construction dashboard).
- [lgu-burdens-map.csv](https://nash.com.ph/blog/charts/deped-data/lgu-burdens-map.csv), [lgu-burdens-combinations.csv](https://nash.com.ph/blog/charts/deped-data/lgu-burdens-combinations.csv) and [lgu-burdens-income-class.csv](https://nash.com.ph/blog/charts/deped-data/lgu-burdens-income-class.csv): the data behind Figures 1 to 3.

[How the EDCOM Dashboard Data Was Cleaned](https://nash.com.ph/blog/edcom-eccd-dashboard-data-cleaned) and [How the EDCOM Classroom Data Was Cleaned](https://nash.com.ph/blog/edcom-classroom-data-cleaned) describe the cleaned data. The CSVs and charts may be reused only with written permission: email [support@nash.com.ph](mailto:support@nash.com.ph). The underlying figures come from OPT Plus, the DILG CBMS and DepEd, which you can cite directly.

## Sources

**Data**

- Department of Health and National Nutrition Council, Operation Timbang Plus 2025, as of 2 March 2026, as published in the EDCOM II [Early Childhood Dashboard](https://edcom2.gov.ph/eccddashboard/).
- Department of the Interior and Local Government, Community-Based Monitoring System list of barangays without a child development center, as of 17 September 2025, as published in the EDCOM II dashboard.
- Department of Education, Comprehensive Rapid Literacy Assessment, end of SY 2025-26, as of 10 May 2026, as published in the EDCOM II dashboard.
- Department of Education, 2023 classroom shortage by school, SY 2024-25 enrollment and the School Building Program 2026 masterlist, with LGU income classes, as published in the EDCOM II classroom construction dashboard.
- Boundaries: Philippine Statistics Authority and NAMRIA, via OCHA's Humanitarian Data Exchange (CC BY-IGO).

**DepEd issuances**

- DepEd, DBM, DILG and DOF, [Joint Circular No. 01, s. 2025](https://www.deped.gov.ph/2026/03/03/deped-dbm-dilg-joint-memorandum-circular-no-01-s-2025-omnibus-guidelines-on-the-use-of-the-special-education-fund-sef/), Omnibus Guidelines on the Use of the Special Education Fund, Annex C and Sec. 6.7.

**EDCOM II**

- EDCOM II. *LGU Playbook: Fixing the Foundations of Local Education*, p. 10, [PDF](https://edcom2.gov.ph/media/2024/02/LGU-Playbook_260311.pdf).
- EDCOM II. Template ordinances and resolutions 1 to 9, [LGU Resource Center](https://edcom2.gov.ph/lguresources/#templates).

## More in this series

- [CRLA End-of-Year Results SY 2025-26: All 18 Regions](https://nash.com.ph/blog/crla-end-of-year-results-sy-2025-2026)
- [CRLA Start vs End of SY 2025-26 in the Same Schools](https://nash.com.ph/blog/crla-start-vs-end-of-year-sy-2025-2026)
- [CRLA by Language: Mother Tongue, Filipino and English](https://nash.com.ph/blog/crla-mother-tongue-filipino-english)
- [How to Read a School's CRLA Results Fairly](https://nash.com.ph/blog/how-to-read-school-crla-results)
- [CRLA Variation: School, Division or Region?](https://nash.com.ph/blog/crla-school-division-region-variation)
- [Where Struggling Readers Are Concentrated](https://nash.com.ph/blog/where-struggling-readers-are-concentrated)
- [School Resources and CRLA Reading Results](https://nash.com.ph/blog/school-resources-and-crla-reading)
- [CRLA Results in Schools With and Without a Principal](https://nash.com.ph/blog/schools-with-and-without-principal-crla)
- [Action Research and Thesis Topics on Reading (CRLA)](https://nash.com.ph/blog/action-research-topics-reading-crla)
- [CRLA Reading Hotspots: A Map of Struggling Readers](https://nash.com.ph/blog/crla-reading-hotspots-map)
- [Stunting, Day Care Centers and Early Reading](https://nash.com.ph/blog/stunting-day-care-and-reading)
- [Literacy and Nutrition Programs Compared With Need](https://nash.com.ph/blog/literacy-nutrition-programs-coverage)
- [Where Struggling Readers and Classroom Shortages Meet](https://nash.com.ph/blog/struggling-readers-classroom-shortage)
- Which LGUs Carry Several Early-Childhood Burdens? (this post)
- [How to Read EDCOM's LGU Early Childhood Report Card](https://nash.com.ph/blog/edcom-lgu-early-childhood-report-card)
- [CRLA Schools With No Struggling Readers: A Data Check](https://nash.com.ph/blog/crla-schools-with-no-struggling-readers)
- [How the EDCOM Dashboard Data Was Cleaned](https://nash.com.ph/blog/edcom-eccd-dashboard-data-cleaned)
- Regional reports: [NCR](https://nash.com.ph/blog/crla-results-sy-2025-2026-ncr), [CAR](https://nash.com.ph/blog/crla-results-sy-2025-2026-car), [Region I](https://nash.com.ph/blog/crla-results-sy-2025-2026-region-1-ilocos), [Region II](https://nash.com.ph/blog/crla-results-sy-2025-2026-region-2-cagayan-valley), [Region III](https://nash.com.ph/blog/crla-results-sy-2025-2026-region-3-central-luzon), [Region IV-A](https://nash.com.ph/blog/crla-results-sy-2025-2026-region-4a-calabarzon), [MIMAROPA](https://nash.com.ph/blog/crla-results-sy-2025-2026-mimaropa), [Region V](https://nash.com.ph/blog/crla-results-sy-2025-2026-region-5-bicol), [Region VI](https://nash.com.ph/blog/crla-results-sy-2025-2026-region-6-western-visayas), [NIR](https://nash.com.ph/blog/crla-results-sy-2025-2026-negros-island-region), [Region VII](https://nash.com.ph/blog/crla-results-sy-2025-2026-region-7-central-visayas), [Region VIII](https://nash.com.ph/blog/crla-results-sy-2025-2026-region-8-eastern-visayas), [Region IX](https://nash.com.ph/blog/crla-results-sy-2025-2026-region-9-zamboanga-peninsula), [Region X](https://nash.com.ph/blog/crla-results-sy-2025-2026-region-10-northern-mindanao), [Region XI](https://nash.com.ph/blog/crla-results-sy-2025-2026-region-11-davao), [Region XII](https://nash.com.ph/blog/crla-results-sy-2025-2026-region-12-soccsksargen), [Caraga](https://nash.com.ph/blog/crla-results-sy-2025-2026-region-13-caraga), [BARMM](https://nash.com.ph/blog/crla-results-sy-2025-2026-barmm)
- Earlier reports: [CRLA Results SY 2025-2026 (DepEd's selected-school file)](https://nash.com.ph/blog/crla-results-sy-2025-2026), [Do the Same DepEd Schools Lag on the ELLNA, NAT and CRLA?](https://nash.com.ph/blog/deped-schools-lag-ellna-nat-crla), [DepEd School Inputs vs Test Results](https://nash.com.ph/blog/deped-school-inputs-vs-test-results), [EDCOM II Final Report: Guide for Aspiring School Heads](https://nash.com.ph/blog/edcom-ii-final-report), [DepEd Data for Aspiring School Heads: Where to Start](https://nash.com.ph/blog/deped-data-aspiring-school-heads)

*Written by Mark Anthony Llego for NASH Reviewer. Sources: OPT Plus 2025, DILG CBMS, DepEd CRLA end of SY 2025-26, DepEd classroom shortage 2023, as published by EDCOM II; EDCOM II LGU Playbook and templates. NASH Reviewer is not affiliated with EDCOM II or DepEd. Charts may be reused only with written permission from support@nash.com.ph.*

---

© 2026 Mark Anthony Llego, NASH Reviewer. All rights reserved. You may quote up to 100 words from this article with the author's name, its title and a link. In research, cite it as: Llego, M. A. (2026, November 13). *Which LGUs Carry Several Early-Childhood Burdens?*. NASH Reviewer. https://nash.com.ph/blog/lgu-early-childhood-burdens. Any other reuse of the article, its charts or its data needs written permission: email support@nash.com.ph. Terms of Service: https://nash.com.ph/terms#website-content-and-data