Agusan del Norte institutionalizes welfare program for children

By Robert E. Roperos

Friday 22nd of June 2012

BUTUAN CITY, June 21 (PIA) -- The provincial government of Agusan del Norte has institutionalized the welfare programs for children as local officials acknowledged that the youth are the hope of the country.

This is what Governor Erlpe John Amante pointed out in his State of the Province Address in the 6th special session of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan held recently at the provincial capitol covered court here.

The chief executive of the province emphasized that in order to ensure that children are attended well, the province strengthened the local council for the protection of children in the municipalities.

“We continued to implement our yearly commitment of providing workbooks to all children enrolled in the daycare service program. Last year, workbooks worth P1.5 million were given to these children numbering 9,382 all across the province,” Amante said.

Amante further said the provincial government did not just provide food for the brain but also embarked on endeavors aimed at molding children into physically healthy citizens.

He explained that the “Operation Timbang (Operation Weighing)” activities were conducted all over the province, serving a total of 44,920 preschoolers.

Amante added the food assistance programs through supplementary feeding activities were also implemented in coordination with the Department of Social Welfare and Development and the province’s 10 municipalities and one city, resulting to the decrease of the rate of malnutrition in the province from 13.32 percent in 2009, 12.19 percent in 2010, to 10.18 percent in 2011.

Because of these efforts and based on the regional nutrition evaluation result, Amante said the province was deemed first place in the implementation of the nutrition program in Caraga for 2011.

Meanwhile, Amante bared that for those who might have had a wayward life, the province has a place where they can be rehabilitated, with the end view of guiding them back to a productive life. This is through the construction of a youth center or Bahay Pag-asa to house children in conflict with the law.

“This is how we institutionalized the children’s welfare program of the provincial government,” Amante said. (RER-PIA 13 Caraga)