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BY PRINCE GOLEZ
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February 7, 2018
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MANILA – Senate approved on third and final reading a bill establishing a national feeding program covering public school students and day care pupils.
Senate Bill No. 1279, also known as the “Masustansyang Pagkain Para sa Batang Pilipino Act,” was passed with 18 affirmative votes, zero negative vote and zero abstention.
Its sponsor, Paolo Benigno Aquino IV, said the measure sought to institutionalize an “effective” child nutrition program ensuring the participation of communities and local and national governments.
“Through this policy, school children in kindergarten and elementary levels will enjoy free access to nutritious food, sourced from our local farmers, with the Department of Education (DepEd) ensuring that students from kindergarten to Grade 6 are provided with proper meals,” said Aquino.
Around 16 million Filipino children were considered undernourished, the senator said, citing the State of Food Insecurity in the World 2012 study by the Food and Agriculture Organization.
For its school-based feeding program under the DepEd, the government spent only P4.8 billion in 2016 to feed 500,000 severely wasted students, he added.
“The government spent only 0.52 percent of its annual national budget on nutrition,” he said. “The global average is 2.1 percent. We need to allocate more to be at par with international standards.”
Bill cosponsor Juan Miguel Zubiri said there has been “no improvement” in the nutritional status of wasted children – from 7.9 percent in 2013 to 7.1 percent in 2015, according to the Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI).
The FNRI also reported that the prevalence of chronic malnutrition among children under 5 years old “significantly increased” to 33.5 percent from 30.5 percent in 2013.
Meanwhile, Zubiri said farmers and fisherfolk would benefit from the measure.
“This program is a two-pronged approach in solving malnutrition and hunger [among] schoolchildren, as well as giving more opportunities for local farmers and fisherfolk to market their produce, which in effect would increase their income,” he said.
Grace Poe, author and cosponsor, said the measure is a form of a “safety net” for those suffering from lack of nutrition.
“It is definitely one of the safety nets for the poor at a time when prices of basic goods and food are increasing,” she said.
In June 2017 the House of Representatives passed its counterpart bill, House Bill No. 5269./PN
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