FILE PHOTO/FRINSTON L. LIM
MANILA, Philippines — Several senators on Wednesday suggested that the local government units (LGUs) take over the feeding programs administered by the National Nutrition Council (NNC) and other national agencies.
“Yung mga ganitong activity, this is yung dapat i-devolve kasi masyadong local. Mas magandang gawin yan ng local kaysa ng national,” Senator Cynthia Villar said during the budget hearing of the Department of Health and its attached agencies.
(This kind of activity should be left to the local governments. It’s better that the local governments implement this than the national government.)
NNC Executive Director Azucena Dayanghirang told senators that it proposed over P210 million for its “Tutok Kainan” supplementation program for nutritionally at-risk pregnant women.
But the National Expenditure Program submitted to Congress did not include this proposal.
The program is seen to be implemented in nine provinces across the country, covering a total of 38,434 beneficiaries, she added.
According to Dayanghirang, the NNC works with local government units to implement the program.
Among the contributions of the LGUs is the provision of transport services for the food products distributed to the beneficiaries.
“Second yung mga [are the] other food commodities, they are distributing milk, water aside from what we are distributing,” she added.
Budget cuts
Senator Pia Cayetano noted that the NNC is not the only agency to suffer budget cuts in its feeding program.
“We noted that these feeding programs have all suffered cuts. Same with DSWD (Department of Social Welfare and Development) pati rin ang [as well as the] feeding program of the DepEd (Department of Education),” she said.
Cayetano and Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon agreed with Villar’s suggestion.
Cayetano said there should be a “limit as to what the national [government] can spend and efficiently carry out.”
Drilon, for his part, said NNC should just set policies for guiding local government units in implementing feeding programs.
“This activity is an activity which can be done with ease and better coordination by the LGUs,” he said.
“The NNC as originally contemplated should only set policies for the LGUs to be guided and the actual implementation should be a devolved function. I agree with Sen. Villar. What is so difficult about this feeding program that this cannot be done by LGUs?” he added.
He also sees “better success” if the LGUs are involved because they have a better understanding of the local people.