House counterpart bill to SB1799 filed

IHAVE just filed a counterpart bill to the Senate Bill 1799 of Senator Francis Tolentino on an annual nutrition program for seniors. These bills seek to establish the mandates. Execution details can be in the implementing rules and regulations.

I am concerned about making sure the nutrition program can be implemented well and would not be too cumbersome for the implementors, so I trust that the DOH and DILG will include necessary provisions in the implementing rules and regulations when SB 1799 and HB 7064 become law.

The IRR should include the senior citizens desk, medical doctors, nurses, nutritionists, barangay health workers, and barangay health centers among the implementors because the Office of Senior Citizens Affairs (OSCA) of cities and municipalities do not have the ground level personnel for home visitations and monthly monitoring reports.

Accountability and authority in the IRR should be vested in the mayors, OSCAs, barangay chairpersons, and barangay councils.

Implementing funding can be sourced from local and national funds. Funding for the nutrition program should be considered economic stimulus and investments in public health.

The IRR should also spell out that the design of the nutrition programs will be the responsibility of the Department of Health, National Nutrition Council, and the Food and Nutrition Research Institute or FNRI.

The nutrition programs and monitoring parameters should include ‘red flags’ for individual cases and situations of malnutrition, undernutrition, medicines contraindications, and other related nutritional and overall health matters.

Privacy controls must also be part of the comprehensive national nutrition program for seniors, necessitating the involvement of the National Privacy Commission in the crafting of privacy measures in the IRR.