THE Food Bank Ordinance of Cebu City, passed by the Cebu City Council last August 12, 2020, will establish a food bank to be managed by the Department of Social and Services (DSWS), with a governing board led by a representative of the mayor, and an initial budget of P3 million.
The ordinance is clearly prompted by the current Covid-19 pandemic, with City Hall providing rice and canned goods to residents who are banned from leaving their homes during the lockdown period or cannot afford to buy them. With the quarantine in the city limited to "granular" lockdowns, food dole-out has been confined to much-smaller areas.
Other disasters too
But the ordinance "whereas" list also cites (natural) disasters, not just public health emergencies, as occasion for the City Government to help residents, especially "the poor and disadvantaged," meet their essential needs during the calamity.
Councilor Alvin M. Dizon, author of the ordinance, told SunStar Thursday, August 20, the food bank is "a continuing entity to be managed by the office of the city mayor through DSWS and the governing board," which will "ensure its year-round operation." The plan is rather ambitious, given the promise from Councilor Dizon: "a more systematic, coordinated, monitored food and assistance network...that during and outside the pandemic, no one goes hungry ever."
Two models
What kind of a food bank will it be? The ordinance adopts both (1) the "frontline model," which gives directly to the poor and hungry, and (2) the "warehouse model," which supplies food to "intermediaries" like community kitchens and other relief organizations operating during public emergencies.
The "front-line model," which Dizon said will include a daily soup kitchen, like that in the US, may soon fill the need for City Hall's packaged meals.
People sheltered "in place" within a locked-down area have been current beneficiaries. But when fire, typhoon, earthquake or any calamity displaces people and enhances problem of hunger, the same need for instant and convenient feeding arises.
The "warehouse" phase of a food bank prepares and stores essential but not-immediately-perishable goods. When disaster strikes, the food bank can distribute them directly to beneficiaries or through relief agencies.
Rescue, distribution
Less-known part of a food banking operation is the "rescue and distribution," wherein food that is bound to be wasted -- because of excess, over-production, lack of a market, or otherwise not consumed -- can be saved and, through the food bank, is fed to the poor and hungry.
That means a link-up between the food bank and the producer, manufacturer, or processor as well as the bank's network of distributors, so that "unwanted" food goes to the needy after it has gone through bank controls on nutrition and safety. The controls, under the ordinance, include a punishable ban on sale of food donated to the bank and measures to protect the health of those eating the food.
The Dizon ordinance calls for "dynamic and multisectoral" food distribution plans and such strategies as "supply chain analysis," algorithms to address actual and anticipated problems, and the like.
An ambitious objective, which at this stage seems too formidable, given the reputation of government to fall far short of its purpose or objective.
Private models
The City Hall food bank has models to follow or just study: The Cebu Food Bank & Soup Kitchen in Mabolo, a non-profit collaboration of Simply Share Foundation Inc., Rotary Club of Cebu, Archdiocese of Cebu, Philippine Navy Reservists and Rise Against Hunger Philippines.
There's also the Good Food Grocer, a food bank social franchise run by Rise Against Hunger Philippines. It has organized food banking systems in pilot cities Taguig, Quezon, Bacolod and, yes, Mandaue (with Simply Share Foundation).
The Cebu City ordinance provides for collaboration with the private sector. That may take the form of non-profit non-government groups providing Cebu City with information on best practices of food banking.
Foreseen problems
The expected problems will include the lack of dedication and energy that among government workers are often found wanting.
In the governing board, two councilors, two department heads (city health and general services) and two representatives from the private sector could help.
But overseer and manager of the food bank is the man or woman from the office of the mayor, which already a lot of stuff on its plate.
More efficient way
Then there's the matter of politics, which can derail the best-laid plans. The experience in other City Hall dole-outs tells of the risk of politics dictating choice of beneficiaries and mode of distribution. Would DSWS and food bank governing board be free of the politics that seeps into most patronage policies of the city?
The City Council may decide to scale down its purposes by modifying the ordinance, or, if it is bungled, abandon the ordinance and keep itself to the extemporaneous way of helping calamity victims, with the packed meals cornered by some favored supplier. A number of City Hall commissions and boards created through the years have not been functioning.
The city administration may be content with its present procedure in distributing food and other handouts through friendly barangay captains or, where they are not, by Milo chiefs.
But the food bank ordinance, if approved by the mayor and steadfastly implemented, seems to provide the much more efficient way.