From the day of the filing of the Certificates of Candidacy to May 9 when the Filipino people go to the voting centers to elect the next leaders of the country, an estimated 20,000 poor Filipino children would have perished because of malnutrition.
A report by the UNICEF on Child Survival bared that “every day, 95 children in the Philippines die from malnutrition, 27 out of 1,000 Filipino children do not get past their fifth birthday and a third of Filipino children are stunted, or short for their age. Stunting after 2 years of age can be permanent, irreversible and even fatal.”
“For 2019, the rate of stunting among children under five years of age (28.8 percent) was only slightly lower than in 2008 (32 percent)—the prevalence of underweight in 2019 was 19 percent and that of wasting was 6 percent,” according to another study conducted by the European Commission which was published in 2021.
A separate published report said “micronutrient undernutrition is also highly prevalent in the Philippines: 38% among infants six to 11 months old; 26% among children 12–23 months; and 20% of pregnant women are anemic.”
The regions with the highest malnutrition rates are the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), Eastern Visayas and MIMAROPA which includes the two Mindoro Island Provinces, Masbate, Romblon and Palawan.
Nobody talks about these tragic statistics during the campaign and the Presidential candidates had not even been asked in the debates what they intend to do to save thousands of Filipino children from malnutrition.
Hindi ko sinasabi na mas magaling ako sa ibang mga kandidato sa pagka-Senador, but I am ready to confront this problem of malnutrition, an advocacy which I started when I was appointed Secretary of Agriculture.
With the help of the United Nations Food and Agricutlure Organization, the National Food Consumption Quantification Study, a program which I personally designed, was conducted when I was Secretary of Agriculture.
The NFCQS was aimed at determining what kind of food do Filipinos prefer to eat, what kind of food should they eat to improve nutrition, where could we source the food and how long could our resources supply the food needs of the Filipinos.
The UNFAO completed the study shortly after I resigned as Agriculture Secretary in 2019 so I was not able to guide the DA to the next phase of the program which was a silent shift in food production programs to introduce nutritious food in the market.
A 10-Year Nutrition-Based Food Production Program which would provide the needed nutritional requirements of Filipinos is one of the major legislative agenda which I intend to introduce in the Senate to address a silent child killer in the country, Malnutrition.
Ang dami nating puedeng gawin kung alam lang natin ang problema.
Sa mga banana producing provinces of Mindanao, the very small and very large Cavendish bananas that do not meet the standards for export are just thrown away.
Ang mga kalabasa during peak harvest season ay binibili lamang ng P6 per kilo samantalang ang Tamban sa karagatan palibot ng Zamboanga Peninsula at Sulu Sea ay P5 ang kilo.
These bountiful food rich in nutrients could be used in a national feeding program targeting the regions and provinces with the highest malnutrition rates.
But then again, somebody who truly understands the realities on the ground is needed in the halls of power to craft this program.
This is one of the reasons why I am volunteering to serve as Senator of the Republic.
I will bring these overlooked and tragic realities in the countryside to the attention of our national government leaders so that our children will be saved from malnutrition.
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