Garcia Hernandez, Bohol – Resourceful, brilliant, and very dedicated, this year’s Regional Outstanding Municipal Nutrition Action Officer, Dr. Enriqueto L. Acenas ­­hails from the Municipality of Garcia Hernandez of the Province of Bohol.

Borne from Dr. Acenas’ brilliant mind is one of the Garcia Hernandez Municipal Nutrition Committee (MNC)’s banner programs: the Adopt a Barangay Project which is a joint undertaking of the MNC and the Philippine Mining Corporation wherein the company regularly provides food stuff which is used in the barangay feeding activities. The program also includes a Free Medical and Dental Clinic where the company would provide the medicines while the RHU, the needed human resources (doctors, nurses, midwives).

Other than resource generation, Dr. Acenas also excels in influencing LGU plans and policies to contribute to nutrition outcomes. His technical assistance to the Sangguniang Bayan has enabled a better policy environment for nutrition program implementation in the Municipality of Garcia Hernandez. As a hands-on MNAO, he enjoys doing advocacy activities and monitoring to check on his Barangay Nutrition Committees and Barangay Nutrition Scholars.

One of the long-serving Nutrition Action Officers in the region, Dr. Acenas has been appointed as MNAO in 1998. As a testament to his years of long service, Dr. Acenas was able to help his municipality remain in the top 10 best-performing municipalities of Bohol Province for years and was instrumental in the town’s winning the 2021 Green Banner Seal of Compliance, one of the first to receive the said award in the region since the MELLPI Pro was adopted in 2019. //NGS