Senior Citizen party-list Rep. Rodolfo Ordanes has filed a counterpart bill to Senate Bill 1799 to lay down a comprehensive nutrition program for the elderly.
“I have just filed a counterpart bill to the Senate Bill 1799 of Senator Francis Tolentino on an annual nutrition program for seniors. These bills seek to establish the mandates. Execution details can be in the implementing rules and regulations,” he said.
“I am concerned about making sure the nutrition program can be implemented well and would not be too cumbersome for the implementors so I trust that the Department of Health and Department of Interior and Local Government will include necessary provisions in the implementing rules and regulations when SB 1799 and HB 7064 become (a) law,” Ordanes added.
The implementing rules and regulations must include the senior citizens’ desk, medical doctors, nurses, nutritionists, barangay health workers, and barangay health centers as implementors, he said.
The Office of Senior Citizens Affairs of cities and municipalities do not have the ground level personnel for home visitations and monthly monitoring reports, Ordanes noted.
Accountability and authority in the IRRs should be vested in the mayors, OSCAs, barangay chairpersons and barangay councils, he added. Rio N. Araja
Implementing funding could be sourced from local and national funds.
Funding for the nutrition program should be considered economic stimulus and investments in public health, the solon said. Rio N. Araja