{"id":115427,"date":"2017-09-01T07:00:13","date_gmt":"2017-09-01T11:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=115427"},"modified":"2017-09-01T07:00:13","modified_gmt":"2017-09-01T11:00:13","slug":"dswd-needs-to-explain-p1-b-feeding-program-budget-cut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/09\/01\/dswd-needs-to-explain-p1-b-feeding-program-budget-cut\/","title":{"rendered":"DSWD needs to explain P1-B feeding program budget cut"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"FILE:<\/a>
FILE: Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD)(Photo: Department of Social Welfare & Development\/ Facebook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong> \u2014 A senator on Friday advised the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to be ready to explain why the agency\u2019s proposed 2018 budget for its feeding program was slashed by as much as PHP1 billion.<\/p>\n

DSWD’s proposed 2018 budget is PHP137.5 billion, which is PHP9.5 billion higher than its budget this year. However, the agency\u2019s \u201csupplementary feeding\u201d program budget will be cut to PHP3.42 billion from the current PHP4.42 billion.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs it a case of budgetary indigestion of the DSWD having too much on its plate? Is it due to the failure of local governments to submit financial reports? Whatever the reasons, for the sake of the children, let\u2019s find ways to improve budget absorption,\u201d Recto said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Recto said the DSWD\u2019s feeding program, which provides one nutritious meal a day for 120 days to 1.746 million three- to five-year-olds in poor communities, should be \u201cimproved.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf there are manpower limitations, not only in this program but in others, then we should support DSWD in expanding its workforce. If the program is dragged down by complicated procurement rules, then let us liberalize them,\u201d Recto said.<\/p>\n

He expressed optimism that the Senate and the executive branch can explore ways on how to improve the implementation of this program \u201cto include, for example, joint ventures with social action arms of corporations, aid agencies, and other non-profits.\u201d<\/p>\n

The senator said this intervention is necessary especially since malnutrition kills 95 children a day, or 35,000 a year in the Philippines, and when one out of four children under the age of five is underweight, and three in 10 are stunted.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Recto welcomed the government\u2019s move to increase the proposed 2018 budget for the feeding program of the Department of Education (DepEd) which will be increased to PHP5.3 billion, or PHP1.4 billion higher than the budget this year.<\/p>\n

Recto said that if the drop in DSWD\u2019s feeding program budget meant that the higher funds were transferred to the DepEd\u2019s feeding program budget then he had no major issue, after all.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it is, then I have no major issue with this\u00a0dagdag-bawas<\/em>\u00a0(add-subtract) formula, but I would insist on keeping the DSWD feeding budget because it is key to the First 1,000 Days initiative,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The senator explained that if the budget for both feeding programs is combined, there would be a net increase of about PHP400 million.<\/p>\n

“The combined outlay being PHP8.72 billion in 2018 compared to PHP8.36 billion this year,\u201d Recto said.<\/p>\n

The government\u2019s feeding program for children runs on two parallel tracks: DSWD takes care of \u201cseverely wasted and underweight\u201d children in daycares or neighborhood play groups, while DepEd is in charge of children aged six to 11 or those in Grades 1 to 6.\u00a0(PNA)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA \u2014 A senator on Friday advised the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to be ready to explain …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":84931,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[963,8513],"class_list":["post-115427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-ph","tag-dswd","tag-feeding-program","mauthors-azer-parrocha","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115427"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115427\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}