Munti is metro’s ‘most child-friendly’

Muntinlupa Mayor Jaime Fresnedi (center) on Wednesday receives a P50,000 check as head of the “most child-friendly city” in Metro Manila. —CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

The Muntinlupa has been recognized as the “Most Child-Friendly City” in 2016 among the 17 local government units in Metro Manila.

The city garnered the highest score in the annual audit conducted by the Regional Committee for the Welfare of Children (RCWC), an inter-agency task force led by the Department of the Interior and Local Government, and the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

In a statement, Mayor Jaime Fresnedi attributed the citation to the city’s nutrition programs, expanded educational assistance and investments in child-care projects amounting to P634 million last year.

He noted that Muntinlupa had improved from having the highest prevalence of undernourished children under 6 years old at 5 percent in 2014, to only 1.5 percent in 2016.

City Hall has also supported at least 50,000 scholars in elementary, high school, college and technical-vocational programs.

The annual Child-Friendly Local Governance Audit was initiated in 2014 by then Interior Secretary Mar Roxas. —DEXTER CABALZA