AWARD. Cadiz City Mayor Salvador Escalante Jr. and City Social Welfare and Development Head Winona Balagosa receive from President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. the city’s award for its innovative and effective anti-hunger program during the 1st Walang Gutom Awards at the Ceremonial Hall of Malacañan Palace in Manila Wednesday (June 26, 2024). The “Pagkaon Aton Tatapon (PAT): A Holistic Approach to Sustainable Food Security” was recognized in the Local Government Unit-City Level category. (Screenshot from Presidential Communications Office Facebook Live)
BACOLOD CITY – The establishment of farm-to-market roads and sustainable assistance to farmers and fisherfolk greatly contributed to the “zero hunger” goal of the City of Cadiz in Negros Occidental, one of the 1st “Walang Gutom” national awardees of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
“The city’s investments in concreting all farm-to-market roads in Cadiz made our quest to end hunger more achievable,” Mayor Salvador Escalante Jr. said in a statement on Thursday, a day after receiving the award from President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. and Social Welfare Secretary Rex Gatchalian at Ceremonial Hall of Malacañan Palace in Manila.
These roads pave the way for Cadiznons to access easy transport of goods from the mountains to the lowlands, and along with other agricultural projects and programs, “sums up to a remarkable accomplishment of the city’s goal of “zero hunger,” he said.
The City Agriculture Office has also put up a mobile market, from the bottom-up budgeting allocations for farm equipment and facilities, to enable Cadizons to access necessities without visiting the city market.
All these initiatives support the city's “Walang Gutom” Awards entry, an innovative and effective anti-hunger program dubbed “Pagkaon Aton Tatapon (PAT): A Holistic Approach to Sustainable Food Security,” at the Local Government Unit-City Level.
The award recognizes the dedication of Cadiz City to developing sustainable solutions and making a difference in the lives of all Cadiznons, according to the DSWD.
Started during the administration of former Mayor Patrick Escalante, Project PAT is a “womb to tomb” whole-of-the-city government approach with an ultimate aim to address hunger at all cost, the mayor said.
It began as a feeding program in public schools of Cadiz City along with the Department of Education (DepEd) and then moved to prioritize the nutritional needs of pregnant women and infants through Project B.A.D.I.N.G. (Busong Aton Depensahan, Ika-ayong lawas sang Nanay aton Gina-tipigan).
Also included are the “Magulay na Buhay” Project, which is part of Cadiz City Supplementary Feeding Program in all child development centers, and the DepEd’s “Gulayan sa Paaralan” alongside community-based organic farming, benefiting more than 23,000 schoolchildren. (PNA)
