The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is preparing the nationwide implementation of the Supplementary Feeding Program (SFP) for children in Child Development Centers (CDCs) and Supervised Neighborhood Play (SNP) for the school opening in June.

More than 1.5 million children in CDCs and SNPs will be provided with hot meals and milk for 120 days from a budget of more than PHP5.18 billion.

DSWD spokesperson Assistant Secretary Irene Dumlao said the SFP provides nutritious hot meals and milk to children 2 years to 5 years old in CDCs and SNPs managed by local government units (LGUs) in line with the department’s support for the Zero Hunger objective of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.

“Nais nating pagbutihin at panatilihin ang nutrisyon ng mga batang Pilipino (We want to improve and sustain the nutrition of Filipino children). Yearly, we provide hot meals to target children beneficiaries to help improve their nutritional status,” Dumlao said in a news release on Wednesday.

“Isinusulong din natin ang paggamit ng lokal at katutubong pagkain sa nasabing hot meals upang matugunan ang at least 1/3 ng dietary intake ng mga bata (We are also promoting the use of local and indigenous food for the hot meals to meet at least a third of the dietary intake of the children).”

In implementing the program, the children’s weight and height are measured at the start and after the completion of the feeding program, and are consistently monitored throughout the feeding sessions.

The parents of the children are also involved in preparing the meals using affordable, nutritious, and indigenous ingredients.

The program has been implemented yearly since it was institutionalized in 2018 by Republic Act 11037, also known as the “Masustansiyang Pagkain Para sa Batang Pilipino Act.”

In 2024, the SFP served 1,871,165 children nationwide using a budget of more than PHP4 billion. (PNA)