“Hot meals Monday-Firday”: 6,000 Kalinga daycare kids given supplementary food under ₱26.1-M DSWD feeding program

TABUK CITY, Kalinga — More than 6,000 daycare children across Kalinga are receiving supplementary food and nutrition support through the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) feeding program, backed by a ₱26.171-million allocation.

Rhea Kate Banatao, focal person for the Supplementary Feeding Program (SFP) at the provincial DSWD office, said children receive freshly prepared meals from Monday to Friday, while food for Saturday and Sunday is brought home.

“From Monday to Friday, hot meals ti ipo-provide tayo. [For] Saturday and Sunday, ag-take home da ti [food],” Banatao said in an interview with PIA-Kalinga.

Now on its 16th cycle, the program provides meals and milk to children enrolled in local government-run Child Development Centers and Supervised Neighborhood Play groups for 180 days, seven days a week.

According to Banatao, more than 6,000 children in 300 Child Development Centers across the province are covered by the program. The allocated budget provides ₱25 per child per meal per day.

The program is implemented by the DSWD in coordination with local government units to help address undernutrition among young children and support their growth and development.

Institutionalized under Republic Act No. 11037, or the Masustansyang Pagkain para sa Batang Pilipino Act, the SFP provides supplementary food to children enrolled in Child Development Centers and Supervised Neighborhood Play groups.

Food supplies include grocery items, vegetables, eggs, chicken, bananas, bread and other ingredients that parents and guardians use to prepare meals for the children.

Supplies were distributed to daycare centers in the municipalities, while provisions for centers in Tabuk City’s four districts were turned over on October 13 at the Bulanao Gym and Tabuk People’s Gym.

The program aims to provide additional nutritional support during children’s early years, when proper nourishment is important for healthy growth and development.