• (074) 442-3036
  • Mon - Sat: 8:00am - 5:00pm
Facebook-f Instagram Youtube Home

December 12, 2025

From Policy to Plate: The University of Baguio’s Role in Local and Regional Anti-Poverty Policy in 2025

Other Posts
Written by: Dr. Donnavila Marie P. Herbster

Poverty has many dimensions: going hungry, leaving school too early, lacking clean water or a steady income, and having no voice in the decisions that shape one’s community. Ending it requires sound policy, and policy works only when the institutions closest to the people help design it and carry it out.

In 2025, the University of Baguio (UB) took part in policymaking and policy implementation at the city and regional levels. It became a formal partner of the City Government of Baguio in implementing a city ordinance that feeds low-income college students. It helped co-create Baguio City’s local SDG action plans with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). It joined the Department of the Interior and Local Government – Cordillera (DILG-CAR) as a resource institution for strengthening civil society. Its students proposed legislation in the city’s youth parliament, and its outreach was aligned with the development plan of its adopted barangay. This article describes these engagements.

Implementing a city anti-hunger ordinance: Free Meals for Youth

Hunger keeps many students from low-income families from finishing college. In response, the Baguio City Council enacted the Free Youth Meals for College Students Ordinance of 2023 (City Ordinance No. 96, series of 2023). Its implementing rules, administered by the City Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWDO), provide qualified low-income college students with food assistance of up to ₱2,500 a month, with the aims of reducing food insecurity, supporting college retention and promoting health and nutrition. The program was further supported under City Ordinance No. 652, series of 2025.

The program depends on the participation of the city’s universities. On November 3, 2025, UB, Saint Louis University and the University of the Cordilleras signed a Memorandum of Agreement with the City Government of Baguio on the Free Meals for Youth Program. Meals are prepared by the universities’ accredited canteen concessionaires and funded by the city government. Under the agreement, UB took on concrete implementation roles:

  • The Office of Student Affairs identified potential beneficiaries, collected their documents, endorsed them to the CSWDO for final evaluation and ran the orientation for grantees.
  • Two designated UB canteen concessionaires serve the meals to beneficiaries on campus.
  • UB coordinated with the CSWDO, which visited the campus and commended the timely implementation of the program.

UB was recognized by the CSWDO as the first higher education institution to fully comply with the program’s requirements, and its allocation was raised from 30 to 35 student beneficiaries. The program launched at UB on November 13, 2025, with 19 approved students receiving free meals and more applicants in process. Through this partnership, UB is helping turn a city anti-poverty and anti-hunger ordinance into daily meals for students who need them.

Co-creating Baguio City’s local SDG action plans

After completing its first Voluntary Local Review of progress on the SDGs, the City Government of Baguio, in partnership with UNDP Philippines, held an SDG Inception Workshop on November 26–27, 2025. The workshop brought together the academe, national government offices, local government units and civil society organizations to co-create local action plans for SDG implementation, develop financing strategies through public expenditure analysis, and set up SDG monitoring and tracking mechanisms.

UB was represented by Ms. Sittie Al-meerah P. Darimbang of the University’s Research, Innovation, Extension and Community Outreach Office, who worked in the cluster on SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation), one of Baguio’s priority goals. Together with the Baguio Water District and barangay officials from Kabayanihan and Dagsian, the cluster identified the city’s persistent water shortage as the main challenge and proposed solutions including new water sources, rainwater harvesting and a water recycling policy. Access to safe water is a core dimension of poverty, and UB’s participation contributed evidence-based input to the city’s SDG plans as Baguio moves from planning to implementation.

Strengthening civil society at the regional level: DILG-CAR CivicAdemy

Communities escape poverty more readily when their organizations can take part in local governance. On November 26, 2025, DILG Cordillera launched its CivicAdemy Program to strengthen civil society organizations (CSOs), and UB joined as one of its Local Resource Institutions. After completing a Training of Trainers, a UB team helped launch the program: RIECO Director Dr. Donnavila Marie Panday-Herbster, RIECO staff Ms. Michelle Ann Chomayag, Political Science Program Chair Ms. Marianne Basoyang and STELA faculty member Ms. Jenny Agtani. UB committed to helping CSOs build capacity in values formation, soft skills, technical competencies and foundational governance, and to extending the program to its adopted communities in Baguio City and Benguet. In her remarks, Dr. Panday-Herbster criticized governance structures that leave communities unheard.

Young UBians in local legislation

UB also prepares students to take part in policymaking themselves. At the Baguio Youth Parliament on August 15–16, 2025, five UB students from nursing, criminology, senior high school and junior high school proposed the “Youth Creative Studios Ordinance of Baguio City” under the Committee on Active Citizenship. The proposal would set up safe, accessible creative spaces for young people across the city, with funds appropriated to sustain them. Through the parliament, UB students practiced drafting and defending legislation that addresses the needs of their peers.

Aligning extension with barangay development plans

At the barangay level, UB’s work in its adopted community follows the community’s own plans. Barangay Pinsao Proper was adopted by UB on the recommendation of the CSWDO, and the University’s Memorandum of Agreement with the barangay names livelihood as a partnership pillar. In 2025, UB’s projects there were aligned with the barangay’s Three-Year Development Plan, following a coordination meeting on March 17, 2025, in which barangay health nurses presented the community’s needs. UB’s 2025 activities in the barangay included health outreach for all ten puroks, baking skills training for women and a basic welding program. These activities form the first phase of UB’s three-year extension plan, “Roadmap to Resilience: 2026–2029,” which moves from partnership-building to implementation, market linkage and community ownership.

At a glance

Engagement (2025)DateLevelGovernment / partnerUB’s role
Free Meals for Youth Program (City Ordinance No. 96, s. 2023; No. 652, s. 2025)MOA Nov 3; launched at UB Nov 13LocalCity Government of Baguio – CSWDOSignatory partner; identifies and endorses beneficiaries; serves meals through campus concessionaires
Baguio City SDG Inception Workshop (after the city’s first Voluntary Local Review)Nov 26–27Local, with UN partnerCity Government of Baguio and UNDP PhilippinesCo-created local SDG action plans in the SDG 6 cluster
DILG-CAR CivicAdemy ProgramLaunched Nov 26RegionalDILG CordilleraLocal Resource Institution; trainers for civil society capacity building
Baguio Youth Parliament 2025Aug 15–16LocalBaguio City youth sectorFive UB students filed a proposed city ordinance
Pinsao Proper partnership and barangay development planThroughout 2025BarangayBarangay Pinsao Proper; CSWDOProjects aligned with the barangay’s Three-Year Development Plan; livelihood support

Looking ahead

In 2025, UB helped carry out a city anti-hunger ordinance, contributed to Baguio City’s SDG action planning with UNDP, supported a regional program for civil society under DILG-CAR, trained students in local legislation and aligned its extension work with barangay development plans. Together, these show a university working with government to address poverty in several of its dimensions: food, water, education, livelihood and voice.

To deepen this role, UB can seek formal membership in local bodies that shape anti-poverty policy, such as the Baguio City Local Development Council, the Local Poverty Reduction Action Team and sectoral councils. It can submit position papers and research to public consultations on social welfare ordinances, and share its Free Meals for Youth implementation experience to inform future improvements to the program.

Sources

Features &
Highlights