Expanded school feeding program launched

MANILA, Philippines — President Marcos launched yesterday the nationwide expansion of the School-Based Feeding Program (SBFP) to address child malnutrition and to promote the health, well-being and academic success of Filipino learners.

The launch, held under the theme “Creating a Future Where No Child Goes Hungry” at Pulilan Central School in Bulacan, coincided with the national observance of Nutrition Month and marked the national kick-off of the SBFP and milk feeding activity.

In his remarks during the program’s launch, Marcos said hunger remains one of the factors affecting children’s ability to learn.

“We used to have a feeding program, but it was inadequate because we had to be selective – choosing only those who lacked food or weren’t eating well enough. Let us not be selective about who receives aid and who is excluded from the feeding program,” he said.

Education Secretary Sonny Angara and Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. also attended the launch.

The expanded program introduces universal feeding for all Kindergarten and Grade 1 public school learners nationwide while continuing to provide hot meals, nutritious food products and milk to Kindergarten learners and Grades 1 to 6 learners identified as severely wasted or wasted.

In the Philippines, “severely wasted” refers to children with extremely low weight-for-height, indicating acute malnutrition and placing children at high health and developmental risks. “Wasted,” meanwhile, means moderately low weight-for-height.

Angara said the initiative is complemented by targeted nutritional support for undernourished learners in Grades 2 through 6, ensuring that the most vulnerable students receive the critical resources needed to thrive academically.

The expansion comes amid findings that the stunting rate among children under five years old has reached 25.3 percent, equivalent to roughly one in four children.

“Every percentage point represents a Filipino child whose potential is being compromised. This expanded feeding program is our decisive commitment to reversing these numbers and ensuring that our learners have the foundation they need to thrive in the classroom and in life,” Angara said, adding that it will provide meals to beneficiaries for at least 180 school days throughout the academic year.

About P26 billion has been earmarked for the program’s implementation this year.

To ensure the program’s long-term sustainability, Angara and Laurel signed a joint administrative order institutionalizing the partnership between the Department of Education and the Department of Agriculture.

“From now on, (our farmers’) market is guaranteed, because this is where we will bring their produce to feed our youth,” Marcos said.

The agreement taps the expertise of the National Dairy Authority and the Philippine Carabao Center in implementing the milk-feeding component of the program.

Simultaneous regional kick-off events were held nationwide to signal the program’s extensive rollout.

At Pulilan Central School, 775 learners benefited from the program yesterday, including all 294 Kindergarten pupils, 369 Grade 1 learners and severely wasted or wasted learners from Grades 2 to 6.

The expanded SBFP is being implemented under Republic Act 11037 or the Masustansyang Pagkain para sa Batang Pilipino Act.

As the government rolls out the expanded SBFP, lawmakers are pursuing further reforms to broaden its coverage.

The House of Representatives has approved a bill seeking to transform the National Feeding Program into a comprehensive National Nutrition Program to further combat hunger and malnutrition among children.

Pasig Rep. Roman Romulo said the proposed measure broadens coverage to all public school learners from Kindergarten to Grade 3 and undernourished students up to Grade 12.

“The measure provides an alternative feeding program as we don’t have enough cows and carabaos. Even if we have enough numbers, we don’t have a storage facility,” he said, adding that the House is awaiting Senate action on a counterpart measure. –  Bella Cariaso, Ramon Efren Lazaro