Lawmaker: Milk feeding program a good investment for kids

A GOOD investment for the future is to give importance to today's little ones, banking on the notion that the children are the hope of the fatherland.

This is how Representative Jose Benjamin Benaldo (Cagayan de Oro, 1st district) views the role of every innocent child.

On Friday, Benaldo launched the City Government's milk feeding program.

He said the children need to be properly nurtured for them to grow the way they should be.
 
"As a result, the city will be able produce the best individuals who will lead a progressive country," he said.

The milk feeding program is a collaboration of the City Government led by Councilor Dante Pajo, chair of the City Council committee on health and sanitation, and the National Dairy Authority (NDA) in an aim to reduce malnutrition cases in the city by 2016.
 
Pajo said his committee was able to identify 5,208 malnourished children ages two up to 71 months in the first district who can benefit from the program.

"We were alarmed by the number of malnourished children in the first district so we asked the help of Cong. Benaldo to help in sustaining the milk feeding program," he said.
 
Without hesitation, Benaldo shelled out P8 million under his office's fund for the program.
 
Starting Monday, the identified beneficiaries will start drinking a glass of fresh milk per day for six months.
 
Marilyn B. Abale, NDA regional director, said the children will be given 200ml glass of milk to complete their daily nutrition.
 
"We expect to come up with positive results after we are thru with our goal, which is to cure malnutrition," Abale said.
 
She commended the City Government and Benaldo for choosing the milk feeding program as an alternative source of providing more health benefits to the children as well as strengthening the milk industry of Northern Mindanao.
 
However, Abale said milk is just supplemental.
 
"In the end, it is the parents' responsibility to provide good food and good nutrition to their children," she said.
 
Abale said it is very important to invest in the children's good nutrition to attain mental and spiritual development growth that will give them a better future.
 
Benaldo assured that after the program, he will support the sustainability of any program that the City Government will implement concerning the children's health.
 
"I hope that through proper nourishment and guidance, district one will have a zero case of malnutrition and a producer of the best leaders in the future," he said.