MALASIQUI, Pangasinan – The supplementary feeding program (SFP) of the Department of Social Welfare Development (DSWD) for the calendar year 2022-2023 targets to benefit 59,437 undernourished children aged three to four years in the Ilocos Region.
In a phone interview on Thursday, DSWD Ilocos Region nutritionist dietitian SFP Gretchen Quiñones said each of the children will undergo the program for 120 days with a budget allocation of PHP1,800 per child for their supplementary meal.
Of the total number of beneficiaries, 650 are from Ilocos Norte, 1,960 from Ilocos Sur, 1,255 from La Union, and 55,572 from Pangasinan being the biggest province in the region.
“Only the local government units (LGUs) under fifth and sixth class and all Pangasinan LGUs being under the priority areas are funded by DSWD for this program,” Quiñones said.
She added social services, including the SFP, will be partially devolved to the LGUs by 2022, wherein funds from the national government will be directly downloaded to the LGUs in accordance with the Mandanas ruling.
The Supreme Court (SC) decision on the Mandanas case specifies that the just share of LGUs, also known as internal revenue allotment (IRA), must be computed based on all national taxes, and not just from national internal revenue taxes (NIRT).
Last calendar year 2021-2022, there were a total of 100,752 beneficiaries in the region.
Of the total number, 11,928 were from Ilocos Norte, 18,527 from Ilocos Sur, 15,745 from La Union, and 54,552 from Pangasinan.
Since the pandemic, DSWD procures the goods for the SFP and delivers these to the LGUs to be distributed to the beneficiaries.
Quiñones clarified that SFP is only an augmentation to the usual three times a day meal of the children.
Meanwhile, some 4,975 undernourished children in the region will also receive through this program milk feeding with a total budget of PHP11.3 million. (PNA)
