The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has allocated PHP37,000,611 for the twice-a-day Supplemental Feeding Program (SFP) of undernourished children in the province.

Jessie Cristales, DSWD in-charge of the SFP in Antique, said in an interview Thursday due to the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic, the 10th cycle of the program will be implemented twice a day for children enrolled in Child Development Centers (CDCs).

“There will be a total of 20,895 children beneficiaries of the SFP,” he said.

Cristales said beneficiaries will be allocated PHP15 each per day based on Memorandum Circular No. 12 issued by DSWD Secretary Rolando Joselito Bautista last April 29.

“In previous years, we only had a once daily feeding program but since there is a pandemic, the DSWD has made it twice a day,” he said.

The SFP aims to ensure that the health status of children-beneficiaries during this pandemic will not regress.

Cristales said the supplier has tentatively scheduled the delivery of Nutripack, grocery items, and other food commodities on Sept.14.

“In the province of Antique, there are 684 CDCs where the food commodities will be delivered,” he said.

He said the deliveries will start from the southernmost part of the province in the municipality of Anini-y to northernmost Libertad town.

The initial deliveries will be good for three months of implementation of the SFP in the province, he said.

“The SFP will be implemented even if there are still no CDC face-to-face classes,” he said.

Cristales said the CDC workers, along with the parents of the children, will have to strategically plan out how they could implement the program.

“Parents may get the food commodities from the CDC to be given to their children,” he said.

Parents may also form a cluster so that they could prepare the food to be given to their children, Cristales added.

The SFP is DSWD’s contribution to the Early Childhood Care and Development based on Republic Act 22037 or the “Masustansyang Pagkain Para Sa Batang Pilipino Act” of 2018.

It is focused on the provision of food, in addition to the regular meals, targeting children 3 to 4 years old enrolled in CDCs and 2 to 4 years old in Supervised Neighborhood Play. (PNA)