NNC to address malnutrition

N.N.C. to Address Malnutrition
Manila Bulletin, Mindanao Newsbits
September 8, 2010

COTABATO CITY — The National Nutrition Council (NNC) is in need of at least 300 volunteers to help address hunger and malnutrition in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), said a local official of the NNC.“We hope to recruit one volunteer per barangay in 300 pre-identified areas across ARMM to serve as Barangay Nutrition Volunteer (BNV),” said Dr. Eloisa Usman, regional nutrition program coordinator.


The ARMM covers the provinces of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Sulu, Basilan and Tawi-Tawi, and Marawi City, all Muslim-dominated areas classified by the government as among the country’s poorest zones. High degree of hunger and malnutrition in these ARMM component areas is prevalent, Usman said. She said it is due to these conditions that all of the five ARMM provinces fall among the priority areas of the Accelerated Hunger Mitigation Program (AHMP) of the government. She said nutrition volunteers will help monitor and assess nutrition problems in their respective villages and in the implementation of the regional proper nutrition program. NNC-ARMM is pushing for a beneficial collaboration with local government units (LGUs) in the implementation of this program. (Ali Macabalang) 

GLOBAL INITIATIVE TO REDUCE POVERTY
ZAMBOANGA CITY — Core values and business principles of a United Nations-led global initiative could help reduce poverty in the country and contribute to meeting the targets of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Rafael Cojuangco Lopa, Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP) executive director, said the delivery of basic services to the countryside with the able participation of the business community can help fulfill the government’s public role of achieving its MDG targets and the corporate sector’s commitment to the UN Global Compact (GC) Initiative in the Philippines. PBSP is the national secretariat of both the GC Initiative and the MDGs. Lopa said the MDGs are time-bound quantified targets for addressing extreme poverty adopted by at least 189 UN member-states as their official declaration at the onset of the millennium in 2000, with the end in sight of meeting the goals by the year 2015. (Nonoy Lacson)


COPS NAB ESCAPEE IN SULTAN KUDARAT
Police recaptured on Tuesday a 31-year-old man who was among those who escaped when heavily-armed men swooped down on the Cotabato provincial jail in 2007 to rescue a suspected bomber detained in the area, a police official said yesterday. Senior Supt. Willie Dangane, chief of the Cotabato City Police, said Faizal Salik was arrested at 11 a.m. on Tuesday in Sultan Kudarat town in Maguindanao along with two others identified as Julkarnain Salik and Anwar Isla Rakman. “Salik is one among the escapees during the February 2007 jailbreak at Cotabato Provincial Jail when heavily armed MILF stormed said jail taking with them several firearms of jail guards and aided the escape of notorious bomber Burham Mundos,” said Dangane. Meanwhile, the military has arrested a suspected ranking leader of the New People’s Army (NPA) wanted for two murder cases during an operation in a remote village in Compostela Valley province. Lt. Col. Medel Aguilar, 10th Infantry Division (10ID) spokesman identified the arrested NPA leader as Percival Manimog, known in the communist movement as “Bing Bong” and said to be the deputy secretary of Guerilla Front 51, Southern Mindanao Regional Party Committee. (Aaron Recuenco and Elena Aben)