NHA to address housing for Masbate's informal settlers

CITY OF MASBATE, March 29 (PIA)—The National Housing Authority (NHA) hopes to address long unresolved proliferation of informal settlers in Masbate City in partnership with the city government.

City Planning and Development Officer Rowena R. Tuason said the NHA was already preparing the blueprint for socialized housing project that involves the construction of 1,400 dwellings in Barangay Usab and Barangay Maingaran.

"Accomplished so far were the survey of the land where the project will rise and inspection of the construction site," Tuason said.

Tuason confirmed that the place had a water source that would be enough to meet the need of the families that will be relocated there.

To accelerate the project, Mayor Socrates M. Tuason mobilized the agencies that make up the City Urban Development and Housing Board to extend all forms of assistance needed by the NHA.

Sitting in the board are representatives of informal settlers, local business club, the religious sector, Rotary Club of Masbate, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and the Registry of Deeds. (MAL/EAD-PIA Masbate)

Spanish NGO joins fight vs malnutrition in Bicol

LEGAZPI CITY, March 28 (PIA) -- With the rising incidence of malnutrition among children in Bicol, a non-government organization (NGO) from Spain has joined hands with the National Nutrition Council (NNC) in fighting this public health problem.

Intervida Philippines Foundation, NNC and several local government units in Bicol signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) that would carry out intensive intervention projects designed to curb malnutrition problem among children from the 11 towns in Bicol.

Intervida program manager Nerissa Dimapilis said at the project presentation that Bicol is the second highest among other regions in the country with the highest prevalence of malnutrition among children five years old and below.

Dimapilis cited the NNC study indicating that Bicol malnutrition cases have surpassed the Food and Nutrition Research Institute national average on malnutrition incidence.

NNC study indicates that 116,498 or 14.89 percent of children in Bicol are malnourished, while 3 percent or 3,500 children are severely malnourished.

The regional report of Operation Timbang in 2011 showed that among the six provinces in Bicol, Camarines Sur ranked first in the prevalence of underweight children with 19 percent, followed by Catanduanes with 18.3 percent; Masbate (3rd) with 16.39; Albay (4th) with 14.91 percent, Sorsogon (5th) with 13 percent and Camarines Norte (6th) with 12.97 percent.

For the cities, Masbate topped all Bicol cities, posting a 14.82 percent underweight children; followed by Ligao with 11.55 percent; Tabaco, 9.79 percent; Legazpi – 8.41 percent, Sorsogon – 6.81; Iriga – 6.54 and Naga with only 4.72 percent malnourished children.

The joint project launch, dubbed as “Strengthening Public Structure for Nutrition” offers a package of capacity building activities targeting Barangay Nutrition Committees (BNC) in 11 priority LGUs in the Bicol region covering Albay, Sorsogon and Camarines Sur.

The project involves facilitation of better coordination among the various local nutrition committees at the provincial, municipal and barangay levels.

Under the MOA, Intervida and NNC would provide training and coaching on nutrition program management, material and technical assistance to project implementation.

Arlene Reario, NNC program coordinator in Bicol, in an interview expressed confidence that the project would be successful in eradicating malnutrition in target municipalities with the commitment of local chief executives, and NGO in pursuing the project.

Reario said, “A strong public structure that responds to various challenges and intervention on nutrition program implementation at the LGU, down to the barangay level is a potent strategy for effective implementation toward achieving the goals of decreasing prevalence of malnutrition.”

At the project launching, Intervida OIC Country Delegate Imelda Abalos said they are thankful for the support given by NNC “particularly the social technologies involved in ensuring effective implementation and management of nutrition programs.”

Malnutrition is a condition resulting from lack of intake of energy or protein or both, characterized by marked loss of weight and failure to grow.

Children afflicted with malnutrition are physically stunted and with poor mental development, high risk to infections, lower school performance, lower levels of productivity and in extreme cases, death results. (MAL/MSA-PIA5 Albay)