TACLOBAN CITY – Nutrition Officers, planning and development coordinators and budget managers of the four provinces in Eastern Visayas together with their component cities and municipalities underwent a two-day workshop on “Enhancing Local Nutrition Action Plans (LNAPs) and Budget for 2019” conducted in the months of July and August, this year.
The four provinces considered as focus-areas for the implementation of the Philippine Plan of Action for Nutrition (PPAN) 2017-2022 in Region 8 are: Eastern Samar, composed of 22 municipalities and one city; Northern Samar, 24 municipalities; Samar 24 municipalities and two cities; and the island-province of Biliran, eight municipalities. Activity for Biliran was conducted on July 16-20, in Naval, Biliran; for Samar on July 23-24, Eastern Samar August on 6-7, and Northern Samar on August 8-9 all at the Leyte Park Hotel, Tacloban City.
The “Workshop on Enhancing Local Nutrition Action Plans and Budgets for 2019,” a capacity-building activity initiated by the National Nutrition Council Region was conducted to assist the local government units in selecting priority nutrition programs, projects and activities from the PPAN 2017-2022 and allocating funds for these activities and programs for the fiscal year (FY) 2019 budget and onwards—to be included as among the items on their Local Development Plan and Annual Investment Program (AIP).
The activity is consonance with Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Memorandum Circular 2018-42 dated 26 March 2018 mandating the Adoption and Implementation of PPAN 2017-2022, as well as stipulating guidelines on the roles and responsibilities of DILG field offices and local government units (LGUs) in the implementation.
The memo-circular enjoins LGUs to formulate their local nutrition action plans (LNAPs)—based on PPAN 2017-2022 programs applicable to their respective localities, and include them in their Local Development Plans and Annual Investment Programs (AIP), to ensure adequate funding for nutritional impact.
The Department of Budget Management (DBM) likewise in regards with DILG MC 2018-42 issued Local Budget Memorandum No. 77 dated 15 May 2018--for local chief executives, Sagguniang Bayan members, budget officers, treasurers, and other concerned local officials on budgeting—guidelines for the preparation of their FY 2019 Local Budget as derived from the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA).
In attendance, aside from the planning core team, the training workshop likewise gathered their provincial administrator, provincial health officers, DOH-Development Management Officers, DOH deployed Nutritionist Dietitians, and DOH-Deployed Nurses.
The outputs of the workshop include: (1) Identified priority nutrition actions and budgets for FY 2019 AIP; (2) Identified gaps in nutrition programs especially for the first 1000 days; and (3) Identified and prioritized programs and levels of investment that will be proposed for the LGU budget for 2019. The local budget is expected to be submitted to the Sangguniang (provincial, municipal, and city) by 17 October 2018 to be reviewed within 90 days for eventual approval. Thus local nutrition committees should endeavor to prepare their nutrition budget proposal to comply with the indicated deadlines as specified in the DILG, National Economic Development Authority (NEDA), Department of Budget Management (DBM), and Department of Finance (DoF) – Joint Memorandum Circular No. 1 (Updated Guidelines on the Harmonization of Local Planning, Investment Programming, Resource Mobilization, Budgeting, Expenditure Management, and Performance Monitoring and Coordination in Fiscal Oversight). DILG MC 2018-42 also provides that NNC through its regional Offices shall provide technical assistance to LGUs in the preparation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the (LGUs’) nutrition action plans--to ensure the intensified implementation of PPAN 2017-2022. (Nino Archie S. Labordo)
