While a number of empirical studies have been conducted regarding risk for falls among the elderly, there is still a paucity of similar studies in a developing country like the Philippines. This study purports to test through Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) a model that shows the interaction between and among nutrition, balance, fear of falling, and risk for falls in Filipino elderly in institutionalized settings. Two hundred sixty-nine elderly from various nursing homes in the Philippines participated in this study. A "robotfoto" was used to obtain the demographic data of the respondents, the Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) was used to measure nutritional status, the Timed Up and Go Test (TUGT) was performed to determine balance, the Falls Efficacy Scale (FES) was used to measure fear of falling, and the Morse Fall Scale (MFS) was administered to ascertain the risk for falls. The structural equation model revealed that: (a) nutritional status has no influence on balance, (b) a better nutritional status leads to decreased use of ambulatory aids ([beta] = -3.00), (c) a low degree of fear of falling leads to poorer balance ([beta] = 0.73), (d) a high degree of fear of falling results to lower risk for falls ([beta] = -0.89), and (e) a better balance leads to a decreased risk for falls ([beta] = -0.16). Findings yielded in this study provide valuable inputs in the development of a comprehensive fall prevention program in nursing homes and other healthcare institutions in the country. (Contains 3 figures and 2 tables.)