The Supplementary Feeding Program of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in Central Visayas has completed its 120 feeding days of Cycle 14 implementation in 130 LGUs, benefiting 150,637 child beneficiaries.

The program allocates Php 15 daily for food and milk to children aged 2 to 5 enrolled in public child development centers and supervised neighborhood play, also known as daycare centers.

Food is served in the form of hot meals and ready-to-eat food, with milk to supplement the daily three-meal consumption of children and help address the incidence of malnutrition among preschoolers. Food supplementation started feeding on August 15 and ended on December 12, 2024. Distributors, community-based organizations of farmers, and local dairies are suppliers of these items.

The Agtugop Child Development Center in Asturias, Cebu, is one of the feeding centers with 40 beneficiaries. In this cycle, the delivery of their supplies and the feeding sessions have been completed.

Daycare worker Leonilyn C. Tingal expressed how SFP benefited her learners. “DSWD’s feeding is important because it gives nutrition to the children apart from the food they eat at home. Their parents will no longer have to buy snacks because of the feeding in the center,” she said.

She also added that children become healthier and engaged more in their learning and play activities. “Children’s energy levels and focus have improved, and they are more encouraged to come to school because they look forward to the free meals during the feeding.”

Program Focal Person Romilene C. Padilla shared that SFP has completed its 14th cycle and hopes it will yield significant results in the nutritional status of children. “Now that we are on the last stage of Cycle 14, our team is deployed in different areas to monitor the weight and height of the children and see if there are improvements in their nutritional status,” she said.

In addition to the meals, SFP also promotes education on nutrition and personal hygiene for the children. “We’re not just serving meals—we’re helping families build lifelong healthy habits, advocate for practicing proper hygiene for their children, and improve food choices,” said Padilla.

Collaborative local nutrition efforts

Low-income families face nutritional challenges because food resources are insufficient. In addition, the lack of regular and nutritious meals at home will result in undernourishment and poor concentration in schools.

SFP ensures that preschool children in the crucial developmental years receive additional meals while attending school.

Each meal follows the recommended Pinggang Pinoy according to the food category—go, glow, and grow, and with the addition of milk.

Some parents, waiting for their children until the end of the session, prepared meals at the daycare centers.

In Asturias, Cebu, the partnership with DSWD helped its local nutrition efforts, particularly in early childhood education. From 22 child development centers in 2019, they now have 31 because of the increased population of preschool children.

“This shows that parents are acknowledging the importance of early childhood care,” said municipal social welfare and development officer Marianee S. Gabriel.

“They are encouraged to send their children to school knowing that aside from learning, they will be given nutritious food,” she added.

In response to the improvement, LGU Asturias gave each daycare center a weighing scale to complement the height board received from DSWD’s SFP.

Frequent monitoring of the children’s height and weight ensures that the program achieves its target nutritional status for children, whether sustained or improved or needs more intervention to address the nutritional challenges.

Improved nutritional status

In 2023, SFP reported that 116 out of 130 implementing LGUs had achieved 85% and above nutritional status, an indicator of children’s improvement after completing a feeding cycle.

Regional Director Shalaine Marie S. Lucero said that LGU played a role in achieving the target number. “We always ensure that our partner CDWs understand their roles and reinforce their responsibilities in the community,” she said.

“We call on the LGUs to take a proactive stance in helping them achieve the desired nutritional status by implementing local programs that will sustain, improve, or even continue our efforts,” Lucero said, referring to the continuity of the feeding program after the cycle ends.

By doing this, DSWD is assured that malnutrition incidence will be reduced and eliminated among preschool children until they reach a certain age when different approaches will be made to combat hunger and poverty in the community. ###

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