NFA urged to maintain food program

Amid the reports on shortage of rice supply and the growing incidence of malnutrition in the city, Councilor Edgardo Labella is urging the National Food Authority to maintain the “food-for-school” program in the day care centers and public elementary schools by ensuring availability of rice stocks.

The councilor expressed his concern that the recent problem on rice supply would also affect the program for the schoolchildren considering that rice is one of the main ingredients of the “hot meals” that are served for the pupils at the day care centers.

In his proposed resolution, Labella said the national government, under the “Food-for-School” program, will be conducting feeding programs nationwide, including Cebu City that would benefit three million malnourished day care and elementary pupils.

He cited that the Department of Education report in 2007 indicated that the positive impact of the program in the decrease of the proportion of children with below normal nutritional classification status from 20 percent in 2006 to 17 percent in 2007.   

Likewise, he said the 2005 report on the Nutritional Status on the Filipino Children by the Department of Science and Technology’s Food and Nutritional Research Institute stressed that school-based feeding programs can sustain the tapering down in the number of underweight children as indicated in 1990 wherein from 34.5 percent, it decreased to 24.5 percent in 2005.

“Despite the reported gains in the fight against malnutrition, approximately 3.7 million children throughout the country including Cebu City ranging from 0 to 5 ages are underweight,” Labella said.

In Cebu City, it was reported that some 2,700 children who are severely malnourished are now given more focus in the city’s feeding program.
Last October, the City Council approved the use of P3.1 million for supplemental feeding programs in 10 barangays with the highest incidence of malnutrition among children. “A state of calamity was also declared in barangays T. Padilla, Sawang Calero, Kalunasan, Mambaling, Ermita, Pahina San Nicolas, Tejero, Inayawan, Pahina Central and Mabini which have high incidence of malnutrition.” –Wenna A. Berondo/LPM