July 10, 2025 – Upgrading their child development center through Kalahi-CIDSS.
For most parents, the child development center is a safe haven for their young children.
However, for the residents of Brgy. Bamban in Gumaca, Quezon, their barangay’s child development center has been a cause for concern.
“Kinakabahan ang mga magulang para sa kaligtasan ng mga anak nila,” shared resident Chris Ann Alpuerto, who added that their child development center was in poor condition–with leaking roofs and fences made of bamboo.
The situation of the center made most parents hesitant to enroll their children; however, most of them do not have a choice.
As such, when they found an opportunity to repair their child development center, the whole barangay stepped up to make it happen.
Building a safe haven for the children
In 2024, the municipality has been identified as one of the areas for the implementation of the Philippine Multisectoral Nutrition Project (PMNP) under the Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (Kalahi-CIDSS) of the DSWD.
The PMNP uses the community-driven development approach in addressing malnutrition in vulnerable communities.
Chris Ann, who is also a barangay nutrition scholar, shared that this opened an opportunity to help address one of the significant challenges in their barangay.
“Meron pong mga bata na malnourished, ilan na dito ay mag-aaral sa daycare center. Ang barangay din namin ay nangangailangan pa ng karagdagang suporta para tugunan ang problemang ito,” she shared.
Chris Ann took the role of the head of the Project Preparation Team (PPT), assigned in preparing and finalizing the project proposal of the community. Chris Ann and the rest of the residents emphasized that upgrading their child development center will help reduce malnutrition among the children in the barangay.
When they started the implementation of the project, all the residents made sure that there won’t be any problems.
Aletha Calvelo, the child development worker for 23 years, shared how ordinary residents like her stepped up to contribute for the project’s completion.
“Kami ay nagkaroon ng pagpupulong, sinusubaybayan namin ang pagdeliver ng materials. Chini-check ko rin po kung tama at quality ang mga materials,” shared Aletha, who took the role as a member of the Monitoring and Inspection Team (MIT).
In May 2024, they completed the project, with a total subproject cost of PhP 450,630.00
Seeing the results for their children
Today, the child development center stands as a safe facility for their children. It now has a safe kitchen, hand washing area, and secure concrete fencing.
According to Aletha, this upgraded facility ensures that their feeding programs are conducted efficiently and consistently for the children, especially that they are already able to prepare the meals on-site already.
“Ngayon ay hindi na rin kabado ang mga magulang sa pag-eenroll ng mga bata sa day care,” shared Chris Ann, who added that there are now enrollees even from nearby barangays.
Further, the whole barangay is also seeing results in the nutrition of children enrolled in the facility. The number of malnourished children is gradually declining and the weight monitoring of the children is continuously improving.
Aletha also shared that their facility now has more chances of being re-accredited by the DSWD.
Because of these gains, the barangay ensures that the facility will be well-maintained through the institutionalization of an operations and maintenance group.
For the residents of Brgy. Bamban, they will work together not only in ensuring that this facility will be used by many more generations of children but also will be contributory to ensuring that malnutrition will no longer be a problem in their community. [with reports from RJMEscudero]