• CHERYL G. CRUZ
More than 3,700 kids two to five years old and enrolled in child development centers (CDCs) and supervised neighborhood plays (SNPs) in Bacolod City are the target beneficiaries of 120 days of supplemental feeding.
The Sangguniang Panlungsod has already authorized Mayor Alfredo Benitez to sign the memorandum of agreement with the Department of Social Welfare and Development in Western Visayas, with the latter set to release P6,683,400 to the city for this 14th Cycle Supplementary Feeding Program.
Alma Gustilo, officer-in-charge of the city’s Department of Social Services and Development, who prepared the project proposal, said “the program is the provision of food, in addition to the regular meals of identified beneficiaries. Food supplementation will be in a form of hot meals/non-rice alternative, to be served during break/snack time in the morning session or afternoon session…five days a week for 120 days.”
Parents will manage the daily feeding, based on the approved cycle menu, with the ingredients recommended to be bought from farmers/suppliers in the locality to also support them.
The children will be weighed and measured at the start of the feeding and monthly thereafter to determine improvements in weight and nutritional status. Deworming will be done before the start of feeding, in coordination with the rural health unit, Gustilo added.
The agreement is under Republic Act 11037, which institutionalizes a national feeding program for undernourished children in public daycare, kindergarten, and elementary schools to combat hunger and undernutrition. | CGC
