TACLOBAN CITY — On 30 September 2020, the Regional Bantay Asin Task Force 8 (RBATF 8) convened for its first meeting in 2020 at Ocho Seafood and Grill.

Eight member agencies attended the said meeting, with Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Department of Health (DOH), Philippine Ports Authority (PPA), Philippine Information Agency (PIA), Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), and the Tacloban City Nutrition Office (CNO) who physically attended, and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) who virtually listened in via Google Meet.

RBATF Chair Benczint Benedikt Ortega and Regional Nutrition Program Coordinator (RNPC) Dr. Catalino Dotollo, Jr., convened the group to plan out new strategies for salt iodization in the region amid the pandemic.

As cited in the previous meeting, only one salt distributor in Tacloban City passed the Post Market Surveillance (PMS) conducted by the group.

Tacloban City Nutrition Program Coordinator (CNPC) Liza Lendero shared that, knowing these results, the Tacloban CNO urged their Barangay Nutrition Scholars (BNS) to sell adequate iodized salt in their respective barangays. RNPC Dotollo added that the Eastern Visayas Association of Barangay Nutrition Scholars (EVA-BNS), which is constituted of the various BNS in the region, is also selling adequate iodized salt.

With this, the group agreed to seek assistance from the Philippine Information Agency 8 (PIA 8) in disseminating the information that the BNS’s all over the region are selling adequate iodized salt. Likewise, the group also urged to strongly advocate the importance of iodine and the use of iodized salt.

Thus far, the RBATF has not scheduled any monitoring activity in the remaining months of the year but has tapped the PPA to alert the group once new shipment of salt arrives. 

The RBATF was organized in order to ensure the sustainability of the implementation of the ASIN law and to guarantee the iodization of all salt being produced, sold or traded, and utilized in the region. #DAFLendero