The year 2013 was a transition period for Caloocan City, having a new administration after the elections. The city’s nutrition committee was inactive and not functional and the hiring of job order personnel including thirty (30) Barangay Nutrition Scholars (BNS) and two (2) Nutritionist-Dietitians (NDs) were put on hold. Through the advocacy efforts of City Health Officer Dr. Maybelle Sison and the city nutrition program coordinators (CNPCs), ten (10) new BNSs were hired as Job Orders and the two (2) NDs were retained.
The limited human resource for nutrition both at the city and barangay levels proved to be challenging in implementing the Philippine Plan of Action for Nutrition (PPAN). In 2014, the city had the lowest percent coverage of children weighed and measured during the Operation Timbang (OPT) Plus among all the local government units (LGU) in NCR. What was even more alarming then was that city ranked 5th and 3rd among the 17 LGUs based on their prevalence of underweight and overweight, respectively. A clear indication of the presence of a double burden of malnutrition in the city.
In response to these nutrition challenges, Mayor Oscar G. Malapitan reorganized and revitalized the city nutrition committee (CNC) through an Executive Order “Reorganizing the CNC and Organizing the City Nutrition Cluster with its new members and designating his wife, Mrs. Edna R. Malapitan, as the City Nutrition Action Officer”. This became a beacon of hope to the city. The CNC became active and functional, regularly meeting to discuss how to implement their nutrition programs better to reduce both under and overnutrition. An inter-agency local planning core group was organized and tasked to plan a comprehensive nutrition program using the Philippine Plan of Action for Nutrition (PPAN) as the framework for action.
Challenged by the results of the Monitoring and Evaluation of Local Level Plan Implementation (MELLPI) in 2015 and true to its “People First” policy (TAO ang Una), the Malapitan Administration hired an additional 233 Job Order BNSs. A total of 247 BNSs were deployed in the barangays covering 44 health centers. Public-private partnership was strengthened in the schools and barangays that brought additional resources to the city nutrition program. The implementation of the Maternal, Newborn, Child Health and Nutrition (MNCHN) Program through the Service Delivery Network (SDN) was intensified. A city nutrition program coordinator was given a seat in the Local Health Board Secretariat that paved the way for nutrition issues and concerns to be discussed and acted on by the board. The CNPCs’ active involvement in Gender and Development Focal Point System (GADFPS), Local Council for the Protection of Children (LCPC) and Local Poverty Reduction Alleviation Program (LPRAP) provided opportunities for integrating nutrition concerns in other programs and obtaining funding support. The good working relationship among the CNC members, particularly the DILG, Liga ng Barangay and the City Council facilitated the passage of local ordinances and resolutions in support of the nutrition program.
The CNC also worked on the documentation of their nutrition programs, projects and activities as an important aspect of good nutrition program management. This allowed the Mayor, CNAO and members of the CNC to keep track of the status of their nutrition program implementation, appreciate their accomplishments and identify ways to improve further their local nutrition programs to yield better results.
Slowly but surely, Caloocan CNC is moving forward in the implementation of PPAN with their CNC Chair and City Mayor Oscar G. Malapitan providing the leadership and direction.
