GMA creates anti-hunger task force

President Arroyo has created an anti-hunger task force headed by Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, even as officials raised the possibility of conducting an internal survey to validate private polls showing that hunger in the country remained at record highs.

Duque and Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap vowed yesterday that there will be full transparency in the government’s Food-for-School Program (FSP), which will be implemented in cooperation with church groups.

During the National Nutrition Council (NNC) board meeting held in Malacañang last week, Mrs. Arroyo said she wants the hunger mitigation program (HMP) to be accelerated and turned into a six-month program with Duque overseeing its implementation.

Among the tasks Duque has to fast-track and improve on are the existing components of the HMP, including the FSP, the food-for-work program and various feeding programs by non-government and religious organizations.

Under the FSP, rice and other foodstuff like noodles and vegetable packs are given to schoolchildren as an incentive for attending classes.

The food-for-work program involves hiring poor and unemployed individuals to render community service, like street sweeping, in exchange for a stipend with which they can purchase food.

Duque will coordinate with other agencies constituting the NNC to monitor the agencies’ individual anti-hunger programs, such as the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) Gulayan ng Masa and Barangay Food Terminal projects.

During the meeting, Mrs. Arroyo also issued a number of policy statements and instructions.

The Department of Education (DepEd), in coordination with the other FSP implementing agencies such as the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), is to maintain the FSP target beneficiaries of gradeschool pupils.

The NNC is to revise its estimate of the FSP fund requirement for 2007 to only cover the cost of rice distribution.

The report on increasing food production, a component of the HMP Framework, should include major food items such as livestock and rice – specifically the volume of rice produced and delivered to Metro Manila – and marine regeneration covering mangroves and coastal fishery development.

Duque said the task force includes Yap, DSWD Secretary Esperanza Cabral, National Food Authority (NFA) Administrator Jessup Navarro, Labor Secretary Arturo Brion and the heads of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and the National Irrigation Administration (NIA).

"Our goal is to ensure that all the targets of every implementing agency is met," Duque said at a televised forum at the Palace.

He said the work of the task force will be assessed in the next 90 to 120 days, which also corresponds to the period of surveys on hunger conducted by the Social Weather Stations (SWS).

He also said some of the questions in the SWS survey were ambiguous, which may lead to some inaccurate results: "So far that (SWS survey) is the only system of feedback that we have (to determine) whether our programs are effective or not… that’s why we, Secretary Yap and Secretary Cabral, think that it may be time to have our own survey to validate (other polls)."

He said the government will improve its HMP if the succeeding surveys do not produce better results.

Yap and Duque vowed transparency in the disbursement of the P1 billion Mrs. Arroyo ordered released for the FSP, which is expected to benefit 698,000 schoolchildren and their families or a total of about three million people.

The officials said the FSP’s implementation will be coordinated with the religious sector to ensure the provision of food to intended beneficiaries: "To those who remain suspicious, this is what we wish to say to you: We will implement this with full transparency and accountability. We will keep close watch so that these (food) will reach families who need them and not to politicians who want to use the program to win in the elections."

He said the implementation of the FSP will also be open to public scrutiny and will still be implemented even during the summer vacation in a system that will ensure that the families of schoolchildren receive the foodstuffs allotted to them.

Duque said the amount allocated for the FSP may be increased due to the huge number of hungry families.

No politics in hunger

Meanwhile, Malacañang called on the opposition to spare the government’s anti-hunger programs from partisan politics, as there should be no questions about the President’s intentions on this matter.

Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said it was unfortunate that the opposition criticized the President’s efforts to feed the hungry and questioned her intentions in addressing the problem.

"The President’s task ahead is clear. She will pursue this program and make sure that all the systems are in place to efficiently bring down the cost of food in strategic areas," Bunye said.

He said efforts to grow the economy, improve incomes and ensure that no Filipino will go hungry is a very complex task and that there is no single solution to this problem.

Instead of criticizing and politicizing the anti-hunger program, Bunye said, the opposition should work with the administration to address the problem: "For those who are still very hungry to take over the government, please spare this program from your brickbats and let the President care for our citizens." – With Marvin Sy, Aurea Calica, Delon Porcalla and Christina Mendez