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Current studies show the growing movement of the Mother Tongue (MT) instruction in the ele e ta ea s of a hild s edu atio all oe the o ld. This is appa eti the isi gue of efforts in the educational programs in the Philippines that utilize this approach. Nonetheless, Philippines is the only country in Asia to have instituted a national policy calling for the mother tongue-based multilingual education (MTB-MLE) in the elementary years. While studies have long supported the use of mother tongue as the language of instruction (MOI), they have been primarily conducted in selected schools rather than employing it all over the country down to the local community settings. As such, little is known about how a national policy for the MTB-MLE can be disseminated in a contextualized local situation. This study examined how teachers, parents, and pupils in two elementary schools (Public and Private) in Iligan City face and understand the challenges affecting the MTB-MLE. The challenges were explored and analyzed. Employing the qualitative method using the questionnaires, classroom observations, and interviews, the necessary data needed for the study was completed. The data were collected from July to September 2014. Results show that teachers, parents and pupils were supportive of the program but were skeptical due to the growing challenges brought by the lack of MT learning materials and books which they have considered as MTB-MLE s iggest challenge. In response, the researche postulated his Eth o-li go p opaga theo to add ess the challenges at hand.