For Calendar Year (CY) 2013, NNC Region III has 2 contenders for Consistent Regional Outstanding Winner in Nutrition (CROWN) Maintenance Award namely: Tarlac City on its second year and Paombong Bulacan on its first year potential maintenance award. Evaluation by the Interagency National Evaluation Team (NET) was scheduled on April 22-25, 2014 in Tarlac City and April 28-30, 2014 in Paombong, Bulacan.

Representatives from the Departments of Health, Agriculture, Interior and Local Government, Social Welfare and Development, National Economic Development Authority, the academe and non-government organizations comprised this year’s interagency NET led by the National Nutrition Council Central Office Staff. The NET validated and deliberated if Tarlac City based on 2013 performance against PPAN canreach the required cut-off score of 95 points while 90 points must be achieved by Paombong, Bulacan.

During the visit, the team conducted desk review of the accomplishment reports of the local agency members of the Nutrition Committee, validatedchanges in weights of at least 10% of pre-schoolers and visited nutrition project areas within the randomly selected barangays in Tarlac City and Paombong, Bulacan. Customarily, the initial findings are presented to the members of the nutrition committees during the last day of the visitshighlighting the good practices adopted by the LGUs while the NET takes every opportunity to advocate to Local Chief Executives some recommendation for improvement.