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Category: Featured Articles

2019 National Outstanding Barangay Nutrition Scholar
Aurelia O. Aguilar
Barangay Oaqui No. 3, Luna, La Union

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The Province of La Union lies in the northwestern section of Luzon, bounded by the sea and its neighboring provinces of Ilocos Sur, Pangasinan, and Benguet. It is home to 1 component city and 19 municipalities, to which the Municipality of Luna lies within. Barangay Oaqui No. 3 is one of the 40 barangays of Luna, a predominantly plain land where farming of rice, corn, root crops, and vegetables is the most common livelihood. It is a small community with a total population of 738 in 166 households.

Barangay Nutrition Scholar (BNS) Aurelia O. Aguilar, a widow, a mother of an only son, and a loving grandmother to three grandchildren has been in voluntary service in Barangay Oaqui No. 3 since 2005. She finished her bachelor’s degree in Secretarial Administration at Manuel L. Quezon University and initially worked as a costing clerk and purchasing manager in a private company. Prior her stint as a BNS, she was assigned as Barangay Health Worker (BHW) in 2004 for the same barangay when her sister left the country to work abroad. A year later, the previous BNS also left the country, and was requested once again by the late Barangay Captain Mario N. Aragon to fill in the position. Though hesitant at first, she wholeheartedly took on the challenge.

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2019 National Outstanding Municipal Nutrition Program Coordinator 
Bhen Zar M. Sam
Maco, Davao de Oro

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Communities thrive when leaders serve the people wholeheartedly. Such is the case of the Municipality of Maco which received the Consistent Regional Outstanding Winner in Nutrition (CROWN) Award in 2019. A first-class economic municipality, Maco is located along the coast of Davao Gulf, found about 12 kilometers from Tagum City. It has a total population of 70,930 in 2019, with 37 barangays and 19,025 households. The municipality acquires its earnings from the agricultural sector, such as crop, livestock, and poultry production.

The success of Maco’s nutrition programs can be attributed to its hardworking and reliable workforce. Mr. Bhen Zar M. Sam, or “Bentang” as he is usually called by his colleagues and friends, is the Municipal Nutrition Program Coordinator (MNPC) of Maco. With 13 outstanding years of government service, his humble beginnings as a utility worker enabled him to work his way up and become a midwife. Through the scholarship he received from the National Commission of Indigenous People (NCIP), he was able to pursue and finish Bachelor of Science in Midwifery from 2014 to 2016 and passed the licensure examination in the succeeding year. This enabled him to challenge the norm by becoming the only male midwife in the municipality. Currently, he is taking a Master of Science in Public Health at the University of Visayas. His dedication and commitment at work made him a recipient of various prestigious awards, including the Civil Service Commission Pagasa Award in 2018 for serving the health and nutrition needs of Maco’s 37 barangays.

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2019 National Outstanding City Nutrition Action Officer
Nenita F. Rabe
Cagayan de Oro City

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Gains are always associated with acquiring something desirable. Cagayan de Oro (CDO) City, also known as the City of Golden Friendship, have a lot of gains in terms of nutrition improvement. The home to Cagayanons is located at the northern part of Mindanao with 80 barangays and a population of 728,402 in 2020. The city’s earnings are dominantly from industry, commerce, trade, service, and tourism, whereas investments are mainly from malls, high-rise hotels, condominiums, and convention centers. Being a highly urbanized city, the malnutrition rate in CDO has been decreasing through the years – in 2019, only 1.7% of 0-59 months old children were stunted/severely stunted, a decrease from 3.74% and 2.7% in 2017 and 2018, respectively. Meanwhile, only 0.5% were wasted/severely wasted in 2019, also a decrease from the 1% and 1.3% in 2017 and 2018, respectively. Similar with other local government units, nutrition programs are nutrition-specific, nutrition-sensitive, and have other enabling mechanisms.

The City Nutrition Action Officer Nenita “Net” F. Rabe hails from Koronadal City, South Cotabato before transferring to CDO in 1982. She is a mother of three and has three grandchildren. She finished Bachelor of Science in Food and Nutrition from Davao City’s University of the Immaculate Concepcion, which was then a college. In 1985, she became the Nutritionist-Dietitian of CDO City Health Office where she monitored health centers and workers, and DOH programs such as Garantisadong Pambata, Deworming, and many more. Since the City Nutrition Office then was not under the City Health Office, collaboration happens only during the Nutrition Month every July.

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2019 National Outstanding District Nutrition Program Coordinator
Grace C. Jardin
Province of Sorsogon

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Located at the tip of the Bicol Peninsula and facing the island of Samar, Sorsogon is the southernmost province in Luzon that is subdivided into 14 municipalities and one city. Known as the ‘Land of Kasanggayahan’ or ‘A Life of Prosperity,’ Sorsogon has a lot to offer from year-round festivities, amazing tourist destinations to wide variety of gastronomic experiences made possible by good-natured and friendly Sorsoganons.

Passion for nutrition and serving the public has been at the roots of Ms. Grace C. Jardin. She graduated with a degree in BS Nutrition at the University of Sto. Tomas in 1986 and has been in service as District Nutrition Program Coordinator (DNPC) at the Provincial Health Office (PHO) of Sorsogon since 1989. Prior to public service she started as a volunteer nutritionist at a non-government organization, and as a nutritionist-dietitian at the PHO.