Among the activities lined up for the month are contests like the Search for Little Mr. and Ms. Nutrition (Listong Lito and Beng Bulilit), Low Cost Menu Cooking Contest, Poster-Making Contest and Jingle Singing Contest. There will also be nutrition parades, food festivals and nutrition exhibits.

Mayor Atienza, chairman of the Manila Nutrition Council, led The Nutrition Month opening ceremony yesterday at the Cecilia Muñoz-Palma of the new Universidad de Manila on Aroceros Street with the launching of the City Supplemental Feeding Program for 2006.

It was followed by a ceremonial feeding where the Mayor was joined by Mrs. Beng Atienza and Manila 3rd District Rep. Miles Roces.

The feeding program aims to target beneficiaries including all malnourished children identified in the barangays, preschoolers in the public day care services and schoolchildren in the public elementary schools all totaling to 45,000 children.

These malnourished children are to be fed for 120 days with Sustansya Atienza a delicious and healthy vegetable supplement, also known as NutriPolvoron, that could be eaten as such or mixed with different kinds of food without changing the quality of its taste. They are made of flour, sugar, milk, sesame seeds and KAKAMPE (kangkong, kamote tops, malunggay, and pechay) vegetables that taste like polvoron. It is rich in Vitamin A, BetaCarotene, Iron, Calcium and Fiber.

The celebration culminates with an awarding ceremony on July 27, 2006 at the Bulwagang Villegas in Manila City Hall. Awards will be given not only to contest winners but to Outstanding Barangay Health Workers, Most Cooperative Barangay Nutrition Committees and Best School Food Production Programs.

An announcing the activities for Nutrition Month, Atienza stressed, however, that the city hall conducts nutrition-related activities the whole year round including free daily feeding programs for schoolchildren in the city’s 71 public elementary schools and pre-schoolers in the city’s 340 daycare and 28 home-based centers.

"One of the top priorities of the city government under the Buhayin ang Maynila program is nutrition. As we continue to make Manila a world-class city, we must also ensure that young Manileños, especially the poor, are getting enough and proper nutrition,’’ Atienza said.

The City Supplemental Feeding Program is implemented through the concerted efforts of the Manila Health Department as lead agency, the Manila Department of Social Welfare, Department of Education Manila, Manila Barangay Bureau, Liga ng mga Barangay, and the Department of Interior and Local Government-Manila. The Kababaihan ng Maynila, a non-government organization also provides invaluable support to the program.