Senator Grace Poe on Thursday vowed to ensure that the “First 1,000 Days” program, which provides support to a child’s most crucial stage of development, would receive adequate funding next year.
“Nagaganap sa unang dalawang taon ng ating mga anak ang ‘Build Build Build’ ng kanilang mga utak… (Our children’s brains develop in the first two years of life) Yet paradoxically, the first 1,000 days has consistently been a non-priority of the government,” Poe said during the bicameral meeting on Senate Bill 1537 and House Bill 5777 which both calls for nutrition interventions targeting the first 1,000 days of life.
“Isang indikasyon nito ang napakaliit na budget na nakalaan para dito (One indication of this is the very small budget allotted to this program). In fact, the budget of the ‘First 1,000 Days’ has yet to crack a billion pesos — a drop in the bucket in our P3 trillion budget,” she added.
According to the senator, the absence of a law on government support for the first 1,000 days of life is the “first stumbling block in the realization of the program’s noble objectives.”
“With the impending passage of the First 1,000 Days Bill after these proceedings, we are one step closer to mending a major gap in our social services… The law which will emerge from these proceedings will certainly change our country’s track and determine the fate of our children,” Poe said.
The program suffered a budget cut as the government allotted P118 million for the Department of Health’s (DOH) Nutrition Intervention Package in the 2019 national outlay, compared with the P369.94 million appropriation this year.
Poe, who pushed for the program’s increased budget in 2018, said that she will introduce an amendment to ensure adequate funding for the First 1,000 Days program in 2019.
After clearing the bicameral conference committee, the bill will have to be ratified and adopted by both houses of Congress before transmitting the same to Malacañang for President Duterte’s signature. /ee