Cebu City told: Implement local milk feeding program
The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) -7 has advised the Cebu City government to have its local supplemental milk feeding program for children.
The agency said they could not accommodate the city in its feeding program under the Republic Act 11037 or the “Masustansiyang Pagkain Para sa Batang Pilino Act” due to a limited budget.
DSWD-7 instead suggested for the city government to partner with the National Dairy Authority or Philippine Carabao Center, through a Memorandum of Agreement, for the local implementation of milk feeding program through the Department of Social Welfare and Services.
According to the DSWD-7, a milk feeding program would help the city government address the high incidence of stunting here.
Earlier, the City Council in a resolution authored by Councilor Rey Gealon on January 17, 2024 requested DSWD -7 to conduct a study on the probability of including milk feeding program as an additional component to their current supplemental feeding program.
In response to Gealon’s resolution, DSWD-7 regional director Shalaine Marie Lucero had a consultation with Mayor Michael Rama and Gealon last Wednesday. During the meeting, Lucero told the city officials that their supplemental feeding program already includes the milk feeding program since 2021.
However, due to a very limited budget, they have prioritized the 5th and 6th class municipalities.
“As a highly urbanized city with a large population of children, Cebu City was not included in the DSWD's conduct of milk feeding program due to its limited budget, as the milk feeding program would necessitate them to allocate a higher budget due to the city's large population of children,” Gealon said.
The DSWD-7 also suggested to the local government to pass an ordinance to ensure that the local implementation of milk feeding program is funded.
“They added that a local ordinance could be created for the implementation of the milk feeding program which would ensure that a budget is allocated specifically for the program's implementation,” Gealon said.
Cebu City is among the top 10 cities in the country with high number of children with stunted growth.