WHEREAS, Presidential Decree No. 491 promulgated on 24 June 1974 created the National Nutrition Council (NNC) as the highest policy making and coordinating body on nutrition under the Office of the President;

WHEREAS, during the 1980 bureaucracy-wide reorganization including that of the Office of the President, NNC was transferred to the Department of Agriculture (DA);

WHEREAS, Executive Order No. 234, œReorganizing the National Nutrition Council  issued on 22 July 1987 transferred and attached NNC from DA to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) which reaffirmed the need for an inter-sectoral national policy making and coordinating body on nutrition;

WHEREAS, Section 27 of Executive Order No. 116 in relation to Section 25 of Executive Order No. 123, both series of 1987, authorized changes in the organization of the DA and the DSWD, respectively to promote efficiency and effectiveness in the delivery of public services;

WHEREAS, Administrative Order No. 88 issued on 26 August 1988 transferred NNC from the DSWD back to the DA with the representative of DA in the Governing Board designated as the NNC Chairperson;

WHEREAS, equally important to ensuring food security and addressing hunger, nutritional needs should be addressed during the first two years of life and the interventions should address the immediate needs as well as its root causes;

WHEREAS, in order to ensure that NNC shall be effective in the performance of its role, it shall be attached to a client-oriented agency addressing the needs of the priority target population groups;

WHEREAS, pursuant to the Administrative Code of 1987, the President has the continuing authority to reorganize the National Government.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, GLORIA MACAPAGAL-ARROYO, President of the Republic of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by laws do hereby order the following:

 

SECTION 1. The National Nutrition Council is hereby transferred from the Department of Agriculture to the Department of Health.

 

SECTION 2. The Secretary of the Department of Health shall be the ex officio Chairperson of the Governing Board of the National Nutrition Council with the Secretaries of Department of Agriculture and the Department of Interior and Local Government as ex-officio Vice-Chairpersons.

 

SECTION 3. The National Nutrition Council Executive Director shall undertake the steps necessary to ensure realignment of its operations to focus on client-based operations and prioritize addressing hunger and malnutrition and formulate the operational guidelines of this Executive Order.

 

SECTION 4. The National Nutrition Council shall endorse to donor agencies and the National Economic Development Agency project proposal for local funding and official development assistance and is authorizing, subject to existing laws and the usual government accounting and auditing rules and regulations, to generate and mobilize resources for addressing hunger and malnutrition consistent with the Millenium Development Goals.

 

SECTION 5. Except as herein provided and subject to the provisions of Executive Order No. 234, series of 1987, there shall be no changes in the existing structure and staffing pattern of the National Nutrition Council.

 

SECTION 6. This Executive Order shall take effect immediately.

Adopted: 30 Nov. 2005

(SGD.) GLORIA MACAPAGAL-ARROYO

By the President:

(SGD.) MA. MERCEDITAS N. GUTIERREZ
Acting Executive Secretary