Strengthening the Barangay Nutrition Program

June 11, 1978

PRESIDENTIAL DECREE NO. 1569

STRENGTHENING THE BARANGAY NUTRITION PROGRAM BY PROVIDING FOR A BARANGAY NUTRITION SCHOLAR IN EVERY BARANGAY, PROVIDING FUNDS THEREFOR, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

WHEREAS, government development programs are now focused on countryside development, particularly on the improvement of the quality of life in our barangays;

WHEREAS, the government and private sectors, in their dedication to provide basic health and nutrition services in all levels, have joined hands to solve the malnutrition problem of the country, with the entire efforts being coordinated by the National Nutrition Council; cd i

WHEREAS, the magnitude of the malnutrition problem in the country urgently needs greater involvement and participation of the people at the grassroots level;

WHEREAS, while the nutrition program of the country has given priority support for continuing training programs for technicians and community workers through the cooperating agencies, and the manpower resources are not enough to cope with the increasing number of people, who still have to be effectively reached by nutrition intervention schemes in some 42,000 barangays;

WHEREAS, the present task of coordinating and implementing the nutrition program relies heavily on agency workers as catalyzers, and that the program suffers because of the large area coverage of each worker limiting the time spent in each barangay; and

WHEREAS, it is recognized that a selected individual from within the barangay who will be intensively trained would be in a better position to deliver nutrition and related services particularly to targetted critical families;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by the Constitution, do hereby decree and order the following:

SECTION 1.  Barangay Nutrition Program. — To strengthen the Barangay Nutrition Program, there shall be a project under the administration of the National Nutrition Council, which shall provide for one (1) barangay nutrition scholar in every barangay. cd

SECTION 2.  Barangay Nutrition Scholar. — The barangay nutrition scholar shall be a barangay based volunteer worker responsible for delivering nutrition services and other related activities such as community health, backyard food production, environmental sanitation, culture, mental feeding, and family planning to the barangay.

SECTION 3.  Service. — The barangay nutrition scholar, while continuously learning under this program, shall serve the barangay on a voluntary basis for at least a period of one year.

SECTION 4.  Qualification. — The qualifications of a Barangay Nutrition Scholar shall be as follows:

a.  Bonafide residence in the barangay for at least four (4) years, with ability to speak the dialect;

b.  Possession of leadership potentials and the initiative and willingness to serve the barangay for at least one (1) year;

c.  Willingness to learn, and to teach what he has learned to the barangay people;

d.  At least a primary school graduate;

e.  Physical and mental fitness; and cd

f.  At least eighteen (18) years old but not more than sixty (60) years old.

SECTION 5.  Recruitment. — The barangay nutrition scholar shall be recruited from within the barangay and shall be tested on mental ability and proper work attitude.

 Benefits. — The barangay nutrition scholar shall be granted a civil service eligibility equivalent to second grade after the completion of at least two years of continuous and satisfactory service in the barangay. He shall also be entitled to a training stipend, kit and travel allowance of at least P120.00 a year, and in addition thereto, such other allowances that the municipality may grant but not exceeding P150.00 a month.

SECTION 7.  Training. — Before actual barangay service, the barangay nutrition scholar shall undergo a ten-day training on selected topics such as nutrition, health, food production and environmental sanitation, based on defined task expectations, to be conducted by a provincial training team in coordination with the municipal and the barangay nutrition committees. This training shall be supplemented by a twenty-day practicum to be conducted in the barangay where the scholar is assigned, and such activity shall be in coordination with a local training team.

SECTION 8.  Nutrition Committees. — The implementation of this project shall be the total responsibility of a Provincial/City Nutrition Committee headed by the Governor/City Mayor as Chairman, and a Municipal Nutrition Committee headed by the Mayor as Chairman.

SECTION 9.  Local Training Team. — The local training team of the municipality shall be composed of two members chosen from among the members of the Municipal Nutrition Committee. This team shall follow up the activities of the trained barangay nutrition scholar.

SECTION 10.  Role of the Provincial Governor/City Mayor. — The Provincial Governor/City Mayor shall be responsible for the program throughout the province/city, of an amount sufficient to support this program.

SECTION 11.  Role of the Municipal Mayor. — The Municipal Mayor shall initiate activities to implement this project within the municipality, organize the local training teams, and may recommend the appropriation by his municipality of a local counterpart in the form of additional allowances for the barangay nutrition scholar.

SECTION 12.  Barangay Nutrition Scholars Staff Secretariat. — There shall be a staff secretariat in every province/city which shall monitor the progress of the program, identify its problem and recommend possible solutions thereto.

SECTION 13.  National Nutrition Council. — The National Nutrition Council shall formulate rules and regulations, and plans and progress within the limits set forth in this decree for the successful implementation of this program. cdt

It shall allocate the funds for this project to the various provinces and/or agencies, for disbursement in accordance with the financial plan of the Barangay Nutrition Scholars Project.

SECTION 14.  Donations. — For purposes of this program, the National Nutrition Council and the local governments, are authorized to receive grants, donations, gifts or bequests, from various government agencies and government corporations, which shall be tax-exempt.

SECTION 15.  Appropriation. — The amount of One Million Pesos out of any available funds from the National Treasury, or from the Special Activities Funds is hereby appropriated and authorized to be released for the organization and initial operation of the Council and the local governments for the purpose of this program. Local governments are likewise authorized to appropriate such amount necessary for the successful implementation of this program. cdt

SECTION 16.  This Decree shall take effect immediately.

DONE in the City of Manila, this 11th day of June, in the year of Our Lord, Nineteen Hundred and Seventy-Eight.

Published in the Official Gazette, Vol. 75 No. 5 Page 832 on January 29, 1979.