Abalos urges local leaders to address undernourishment
CITING studies that one in every three Filipino children is undernourished, Local Government Secretary Benhur Abalos emphasized the importance of focusing on this problem just in time for the country to mark November the 31st National Children’s Month (NCM).
Abalos in a memorandum circular, prods officials from the provincial, city, municipal, and barangays to spearhead and support various activities about the health and nutrition of children aligned with the month-long celebration with a theme “Healthy, Nourished, Sheltered: Ensuring the Right to Life for All.”
The DILG chief also invited the Council for the Welfare of Children (CWC) to work with the government in addressing the perennial problem of child beggars on metro streets especially this coming Christmas season.
In his conversation with CWC Executive Director Undersecretary Angelo Tapales during the “DILG sa DZRH” radio TV program, Abalos mentioned the need to place the kids’ nutrition on the priority list.
“Dapat nating tutukan and nutrisyon. Isa sa bawat tatlong bata ay undernourished, apektado and kanilang brain development. Once na apektado ang utak ng bata sa first 1,000 days, mahihirapan na silang makabawi, apektado ang pag-aaral ng bata. Kaya ito may pagtulungan natin,” he stressed.
The DILG chief also congratulated CWC for the very comprehensive program on anti-cyberbullying and nutrition.
Part of the month-long NCM activities recommended to LGUs are programs anchored on survival rights and developmental rights for the first two weeks.
To be included in the programs are participation rights and national play advocacy along with Protection Rights Week or juvenile justice and welfare consciousness in the third and fourth weeks.
Noting the pivotal role of children and youth in the government’s priority campaign against illegal drugs, the DILG chief likewise encouraged the youth to be active partners for the Buhay Ingatan, Droga’t Ayawan (BIDA) holistic advocacy campaign.
In response, Regional Sub-Committee for the Welfare of Children CALABARZON leader Jean Claude Magdaong called on his fellow youth leaders to be one with the DILG not just in the advocacy against gateway drugs like smoking and vaping but also in the anti-illegal drugs campaign.
