Everyone is affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, both children and adults. The enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) has left many people with no source of income and no or little money to buy food. In this time of pandemic, the government should implement measures to address hunger and malnutrition.
To mitigate hunger in the city while under ECQ, the Valenzuela city government launched the Alagang Valenzuelano initiative to provide residents with basic goods and daily necessities.
First on the list is the Alagang Valenzuelano Food Pack Distribution among families using the Food Voucher system. To enforce social distancing, residents were encouraged to pick-up their food packs based on the time, date and redemption area specified on their food vouchers. Around 105,000 food vouchers were distributed to indigent families during the first wave of distribution which happened on March 23, 2020.
Since ECQ was extended in Metro Manila, the city government distributed its second wave of food vouchers to 230,000 families including stranded workers who were affected by the lockdown, and even families living in subdivisions who are now running out of funds because of the prolonged ECQ. The third wave of distribution was done on May 4 to 15, 2020 to more than 230,000 families. The food packs contain 5 kilos of rice, 5 pcs. packed noodles, 12 canned goods and half kilo of sugar.
Another project under the initiative is the “Market on Wheels” launched on March 29, 2020 in partnership with VALDECO Greenleaf market. Inspired by Pasig City’s Mobile Market, the project gives the residents better access to food as they no longer need to go to public markets. Food items such as vegetables and fruits, seafoods, meat and chicken, and grocery items are sold separately via electronic tricycles or “e-trike”.
The Market on Wheels also gave income opportunities for e-trike drivers since they are compensated with P500 per day for their services which include picking up the vendors and their goods at the pickup point and bringing them to the selling area, helping maintain social distancing during the selling period, and bringing home the vendors with their merchandise not sold at the close of the day.
Aside from distributing food packs and bringing the market closer to the Valenzuelanos, the city government also extended its help to children with disabilities by giving them “Care Bags.” Children with special needs and disabilities (persons with disabilities or PWD) and those who are bedridden with special conditions were each given a Care Bag containing prescription medicines, special milk formula, basic supplies, and diapers, among others. The PWD children were identified by the City Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWDO) based on their database.
The city government considers the Valenzualeno children’s nutrition a priority. A total of 12,000 day care pupils were given “NutriPack” which is different from the usual food packs distributed to families. Each NutriPack for day care children contains fruit jellies, a variety of biscuits/cupcakes or sponge cakes, a container of wafer sticks, six (6) bottles of probiotic drinks, and 1.7kg powdered milk.
Indeed, the City of Valenzuela has innovative ways in mitigating hunger in the city during the ECQ. “We hope that in this way, the local government can help suppress the problem of hunger”, Valenzuela City Mayor Rex Gatchalian said.
The COVID-19 pandemic may result in the worsening of nutrition situation due to prolonged hunger or food insecurity as well as limited access to health and nutrition services due to ECQ. During this COVID-19 pandemic, food and nutrition security must all the more be prioritized by the government. We need to prevent hunger, especially among pregnant and lactating mothers, infants, and young children who are most vulnerable to malnutrition. (Valenzuela PIO/TAR/MEVF/NNC-NCR)
