Last 3 September 2020, the National Nutrition Council-Region III (NNC-Region III), in coordination and with the support of the Department of Interior and Local Government-Regional Office 3 (DILG-RO3) organized a webinar entitled  “Building Pandemic Resiliency of Local Government Units through Investments in Nutrition in the 2021 Annual Investment Program,” for the Local Chief Executives (LCEs) of Central Luzon. The webinar was attended by more than a hundred LCEs from various parts of Central Luzon, members of the Central Luzon Regional Nutrition Committee (CL-RNC), and the Regional Technical Working Group (RTWG) via Zoom teleconference and watched by hundreds more through Facebook where it was also broadcasted in real-time.  

The webinar aimed to disseminate the current nutritional state of the region, and more importantly advocate and raise awareness on the  importance of investing in nutrition for the LCEs of Central Luzon. The webinar would also have not been successful if not for the efforts of staff that made it possible, Regional Nutrition Program Coordinator (RNPC) Ana Maria B. Rosaldo, Nutrition Officer III (NO III) Angelita M. Pasos, NO II Rose Anne M. Cuyco, and NO I Antonette Gail D. Garcia, and also the resource speakers that gave their time to share their expertise and advocate for better nutrition programs and policies through investing in nutrition.  The resource speakers include: Director Cesar C. Cassion, Regional Director (RD) of the Department of Health-Central Luzon Center for Health Development (DOH-CL CHD); Director Julie J. Daquioag, RD of the DILG-RO3; Dr. Azucena M. Dayanghirang, Executive Director (ED) of NNC; Ms. Chona F. Patalen, and Ms. Cristina G. Mabalad, Senior Science Research Specialists of the Department of Science and Technology-Food and Nutrition Research Institute (DOST-FNRI); and Mr. Reginaldo Guillen, NO IV of NNC-Central Office.

The program proper started with an acknowledgement of participants followed by a welcome message from RD Cassion who is also the Chairperson of the CL-RNC, delivered by  Assistant Regional Director (ARD) Juliana Reyes. RD Cassion thanked everyone for attending the first ever nutrition webinar for the LCEs. He mentioned that the webinar, a Local Government Unit (LGU) mobilization strategy, is a key strategic thrust of the Philippine Plan of Action for Nutrition (PPAN) 2017-2022, and Central Luzon Regional Plan of Action (RPAN) 2019-2022, taking into account the new platform via zoom as platform of virtual communication reaching out to the LCEs  who are the chairpersons of the provincial, city, municipality, and barangay nutrition committees. RD Cassion also highlighted how he hoped that the participants will be able to appreciate the synergistic relationship of nutrition and development and that the two are co-dependent of each other, that nutrition will not happen without development and vice-versa. He also hoped that the realization of this relationship will be strengthened upon the conduct of the online workshops on integrating nutrition in the annual investment plans of the various LGUs of Central Luzon. RD Cassion ended his message on a hopeful note that everyone’s eyes be opened and enable everyone to not just see the value of nutrition, but as new perspective that everyone will get from the webinar and the following online workshops.

RD Cassion’s message was followed by an inspiration message from RD Daquioag, Vice-Chair of the CL-RNC, delivered by Mr. Ener Cambronero. RD Daquioag stated how stunting remains to be one of the main nutritional challenges in the country and how its consequences affects our nation as a whole. She also cited the different laws and policies in the country that support the scaling up for nutrition, but mentioned how despite these laws and policies, LGUs need a strong political commitment to play their role to ensure that programs, projects, and activities, that are invested and included in their AIPs are addressing these pervasing health and nutrition problems in the country. She also strongly advocated for the cooperation and coordinate with the government agencies that will guide everyone in achieving the goal to reduce malnutrition in the country, especially at this time of heath emergency. She also hoped that everyone attending the webinar will understand the weight why nutrition should be integrated in the AIPs.

RD Daquioag’s message was preceded by ED Dayanghirang of NNC, the keynote speaker, where she encouraged and asked for everyone’s cooperation in the joint effort to crush COVID-19 and malnutrition. She reiterated the important role of LGUs, local nutrition committees, headed by LCEs. She also gave emphasis on what NNC has been tirelessly advocating repeatedly which includes:

“Solving malnutrition is never a one-person nor a single agency’s responsibility. It is a multi-sectoral concern that needs to be addressed and responded by all those who are given the duty to make this country nutritionally sound and competitive… …Nutrition problems are not only concerns of the nutrition and health offices, but this is a multi-sectoral concern as is no single cause of malnutrition but multifactorial, such as poverty, lack of food supply and food insecurity, armed conflict, natural disasters, etc. It is our duty in the government as duty bearers to make this country nutritionally sound and competitive… …We should include or engage other partners in your localities, may it be private or public sectors. A partnership is also a key to which malnutrition can be solved.”

ED Dayanghirang also mentioned the efforts and advocacies of the Zero Hunger Task Force, by which Cabinet Secretary Carlo Nograles serve as chair, to address malnutrition in the country. She ended her message by reminding the LGUs that the NNC is always open to provide technical assistance to the LGUs in the formulation of nutrition policies, and in the integration of nutrition in the local AIP.

Next, Ms. Mabalad, and Ms. Patalen shared the nutrition situation in the Philippines, and Central Luzon respectively, based from the conducted 2018 National Nutrition (NNS) Survey and 2019 Expanded NNS. They discussed in detail how the ENNS is conducted , the trends of the prevalence of the different types of malnutrition such as overweight, underweight, and stunting in the country, and in Central Luzon.

The last topic of the webinar which is about the overview of the online workshop on integrating nutrition in the AIP was discussed by Mr. Guillen. He talked about the objectives of the workshop and how the workshop is part of the over-all LGU mobilization strategy – Component 1 of the four-component strategy for LGU mobilization by the NNC Governing Board Resolution No. 4 in April 2019. Mr. Guillen also shared his experience in the successful pilot run of the online workshop on the integration of nutrition in the AIP in Talibon, Bohol. Mr. Guillen cited the following statements in his call to action to the LGUs.

“Sustain the gain – Nutrition is an important investment and intervention area in the current and post pandemic situation. Adapt to the situation – Active participation in adaptive methods such as the Online AIP Workshop.”

Mr. Guillen also shared the expected outputs from the upcoming workshops which includes:

• LGU teams have a greater appreciation of the alarming malnutrition problem in the country and a clearer recognition of the crucial role of the LGUs with the leadership of the LCE to secure the right to food and nutrition of its people in times of emergencies such as the pandemic;
• Formulated strong and adequate nutrition budgets for the four major nutrition PPAs, including the First 1000 Days program, as inputs to the 2021 and 2022 AIP; and
• Develop their re-entry plan that defines actions that the LGU team will implement to ensure the full acceptance by the LCE and the Sanggunian of the participants’ proposed nutrition budget in the 2021 and 2022 AIP

The webinar ended with the presentation of certificates of appreciation to all the resource speakers,  followed by a closing remarks from NPC Rosaldo. NPC Rosaldo expressed heartfelt appreciation and gratitude to all the attendees, speakers and resource person of the webinar, and ended her message with a hopeful note that from the presentation of the different speakers, the participants were able to appreciate the importance of nutrition, particularly during the First 1000 Days of life, in order to contribute to the reduction of stunting and mitigate hunger and malnutrition in the country.


Author:

Antonette Gail D. Garcia
Nutrition Officer I