Tacloban City — Local leaders from Samar and Southern Leyte closed a three-day workshop on September 19, 2025, with a firm pledge to put people at the center of their development plans. The release of the 2022 Community-Based Monitoring System (CBMS) data prompted the workshop, revealing serious gaps in education, food security, jobs, and health across eight municipalities in Eastern Visayas.

Participants admitted that despite years of government investments, fragmented programs and infrastructure-heavy spending left many services underfunded. During the workshop, they treated the CBMS data not only as a report but as a wake-up call.

Troubling Gaps in Human Development

The CBMS numbers highlighted urgent challenges which contribute to local human capital development:

• Education: In San Jose de Buan, half of adults in unions had not completed elementary school. Calbiga, Catbalogan, and Maasin also showed large education gaps that continue to trap families in poverty.
• Food Security: Hunger persists in many areas. Calbiga reported the highest food insecurity at 56.88%, with Macrohon, Tomas Oppus, and Catbalogan also recording alarming rates.
• Health: Illness rates reached 62.2% in Tomas Oppus and 43% in San Jose de Buan. Yet PhilHealth coverage stayed critically low, with no municipality surpassing 12% and San Jose de Buan reporting only 1.75%.

Related articles:

• Learning and Working Together: Insights from the Youth Leadership Colloquiums in Southern Leyte and Samar
• Youth and Local Leaders Join Forces to Prevent Teen Pregnancies in Samar
• Southern Leyte Shows Progress in Reducing Teen Pregnancies

Turning Data Into Action

The Zuellig Family Foundation (ZFF) organized the workshop under the Joint Programme on Accelerating the Reduction of Adolescent Pregnancy (JPARAP) with support from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). ZFF guided participants in aligning their development priorities with the Philippine Population and Development Plan of Action (PPD-POA) and measuring their success thru a developed local human development index

Health, planning, budget, nutrition, and population officers reviewed their draft Municipal Population and Development Plans of Action through focused sessions. Participants committed to carry forward people-centered priorities in their respective local government unit (LGU)’s planning cycles.

A Call for People-Centered Governance

By the end of the workshop, participants were united in one message: CBMS data must not gather dust in filing cabinets. It should serve as a mirror, reflecting the real needs of communities. Progress, they said, should no longer be measured by the number of buildings or roads completed, but by how many lives are improved.

The challenge now lies with LGUs: to show that governance is not about scattered projects or token budgets, but about truly putting people first.

Author: Floro Acaba Jr., ZFF EYLGP Provincial Account Officer for Samar

The Zuellig Family Foundation (ZFF), together with the Knowledge Channel Foundation Inc. (KCFI) and Ayala Foundation Inc. (AFI), is working closely with local leaders in Basilan to strengthen child health, nutrition, and early education. Recent meetings in Lamitan City and Isabela City highlighted not just enthusiasm for the program, but also important insights on what it will take to make lasting change.

Both cities already have Child Development Centers (CDCs), Child Development Workers (CDWs), and Child Development Teachers (CDTs). But leaders themselves acknowledged key questions: 

• Are these structures enough to reach all families? Is there a strong system that ensures these programs truly work together? 
• And are health, nutrition, and education efforts moving in harmony? 

These reflections signal that the groundwork exists, but gaps remain that need to be understood through the upcoming baselining activities.

Related articles:

• Mayor Oric Furigay of Lamitan City, Basilan: Conquering obstacles to achieve nutrition goals
• Mayor Sitti Djalia Turabin-Hataman of Isabela de Basilan: Strengthening nutrition programs with an empowered leadership

A meaningful insight came from Lamitan City Mayor Oric Furigay, who underscored the rising need to support children with special needs. He asked for help in creating a program for Special Education (SPED) services for children as young as three to five years old. His request reflects not only the reality of increasing cases but also his personal commitment to inclusive child development.

Both mayors pointed out that aligning health, nutrition, and education is essential. They see the value of an integrated approach that supports families from pregnancy to early schooling, ensuring children receive consistent care throughout their early years.

These conversations show that Basilan is not starting from scratch—it already has important resources, leaders who are engaged, and a willingness to collaborate. With ZFF, KCFI, and AFI working alongside local governments, the momentum is growing to transform these insights into action for the benefit of families and children in Basilan.

Author: Joyce Viar, ZFF Nutrition Director

Managing health systems is complicated enough without the COVID-19 pandemic. The Zuellig Family Foundation is proud to have trained mayors who have ably risen to the challenge. All underwent the ZFF’s health leadership and governance program.

Toni Yulo-Loyzaga, a ZFF trustee, pointed out the observed leadership skills, starting with leveraging personal and professional background.

During the recently concluded online forum organized by ZFF, local chief executives from its partner provinces and cities mentioned their different careers before joining politics. This, according to Loyzaga, adds value to their role because it allows them to use a wider lens in understanding health challenges. Koronadal City Vice Mayor Peter Miguel developed advocacy for reducing maternal deaths when his late wife, who worked as an obstetrician-gynecologist, told him that no mother should die of childbirth. He strengthened maternal and child care in his city by upskilling the barangay health workers (BHWs).

Loyzaga noted that ZFF LCEs value partnerships with the academe and the private sector, whom Loyzaga said must be valued not just as donors, but as co-implementers. Zamboanga City Mayor Ma. Isabelle Climaco-Salazar involved private groups and government agencies in the city’s health agenda focusing on teenage pregnancy, rights of women and children, tuberculosis, and contraceptive use. Collaborations with the private sector allowed the city to manage the influx of locally stranded individuals and returning Filipinos amid the pandemic.

But effective health leadership does not end with owning and creating solutions. Loyzaga pointed out how trust-building is at the heart of behavioral change and public governance. LCEs must reach out to understand and build trust with their constituents. “It is the glue that binds our communities,” said Loyzaga.

Lastly, Loyzaga reminded the leaders to recognize the value of risk communications and the need to integrate it into their health programs at the very beginning. Risk communication builds trust and cooperation among the people and enables mutual dialogue and participatory decision-making. ZFF conducted a series of online forums to highlight the accomplishments of its partner local government units (LGU) whose health leaders participated in the USAID-supported Institutionalization of Health Leadership and Governance Program. The IHLGP aimed to help LGUs provide constituents easier access to quality healthcare services and improve health outcomes.

There will likely be more stunted, wasted, and underweight children because of COVID-19. Without proper interventions, these children are put to a disadvantaged up to their adult lives.

It was Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles, who also heads the government’s hunger task force, who expressed the bleak expectation following the September SWS poll that showed 7.6 million households had experienced involuntary hunger at least once in the past three months.

The Zuellig Family Foundation, through its City Nutrition Governance Program, works with Puerto Princesa, Tacurong, and Tagum to improve nutrition in the first 1000 days, and mitigate the impacts of the pandemic as well as integrate nutrition into their overall COVID-19 response programs.

The city mayors aim to address the unsustainability of food packs distribution and cash amelioration programs, and then make their constituents more food self-sufficient.

Puerto Princesa supports the organic backyard gardening by distributing gardening and farming tools, seedlings, and information materials to families in barangays where malnutrition cases are high.

Tacurong City appointed a new city action nutrition officer, activated the city and barangay nutrition councils, and upgraded front-line health workers’ skills.  Pregnant women and mothers with malnourished children get priority seed allocation.

Tagum City’s agriculture office introduced programs that brought fresh produce directly to barangays, encouraged residents to plant on vacant lots around the city, and gave residents free access to seeds and seedlings.