A NON-GOVERNMENT organization has initially opened on Saturday, February 11, in Cagayan de Oro City, a kitchen named after President Rodrigo Duterte with an end goal to serve free food to poor families and street children.
A group of volunteers in Cagayan de Oro has opened Duterte’s Kitchen (DK-CDO) as a way of supporting the government to eradicate the number of hungry Filipinos in the country.
The birth of DK-CDO was initiated because of President Duterte's promise that no one will ever go hungry under his administration. Starting February 18, the target beneficiaries of the program, the poor families and individuals, will be given food in Duterte's Kitchen.
Dorothy "Dadat" Balaba, secretary of DK-CDO's organizing committee, said that they have patterned this from the "Lugaw ng Masa" feeding program in Davao City when Duterte was still the city mayor. However, they are only supporting President Duterte's mission to feed the needy.
DK-CDO is wholly an organization composed of volunteers and does not have any political affiliation and is non-sectarian, said Balaba.
"We only rely on donations. The ones who will regulate the center are the volunteers and for now, we have about 20 volunteers in the center but from time to time, there are those from outside organizations who help us," Balaba said.
Through the help of volunteer organizations, the Duterte's Kitchen committee has found the areas of poor families and street children in the city and will either personally go to them or will invite them to their office to eat.
According to Balaba, their beneficiaries will receive lunch and dinner every day. The food to be served will primarily be soup along with other food that will depend on the available donations in their kitchen.
Since Balaba and the other members of DK-CDO's committee started constructing their office, kitchen, and serving area in Andres-Fernandez street in Carmen village last January, organizations like the New Gateway Eagles Club, the United President Duterte Group, ONE CDO, Soka Gakkai International-CDO, Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban), and other anonymous groups have donated almost all the things that were needed to build the DK-CDO. They have given materials for the DK's construction as well as rice and other food supplies.
Balaba clarifies that while their primary goal is to feed the poor families, they will also make sure that these people will know how to make their livelihood and produce food for their own families. This is to make sure that Duterte's Kitchen will have a lasting impression to the poor people of Cagayan de Oro City long after this program is gone.
"Livelihood education is part of it. For now, we focus muna sa feeding program. Once we stabilize this program, livelihood program will be our next project," said Balaba.
Last February 11, DK's committee has already started their preliminary preparations for the program including registration and orientation of volunteers. However, Balaba said that since the organization sustenance relies largely on the efforts of their volunteers and donations, they are hoping that more people will join them. They are open for almost all kinds of donations and assistance and partnerships both from private and public offices.
This is the second concept in the country. The first Duterte’s Kitchen has earlier opened in Cubao last year.