Alarm bells ring on Cordillera obesity

BAGUIO CITY—Health officials in the Cordillera have raised an alarm over the increasing rate of obesity among government workers in the region.

June Falancy, regional nutrition coordinator of the National Nutrition Council (NNC), said the government workers’ sedentary lifestyle and poor diet have contributed to the increasing rate of obesity among them.

She said results of medical tests conducted on directors and employees of government agencies in 2006 showed that most of them were obese and overweight. The region has about 37,000 government employees spread across the provinces of Benguet, Abra, Mt. Province, Ifugao, Kalinga and Apayao and Baguio City.

Falancy said the one-time health survey was done under the supervision of the NNC, and as part of the government’s health and wellness program for employees. Its results, she said, reflect health conditions of government workers in the region today.

“When we found that most of the government employees were obese, that immediately got our attention. Ideally, these people… should be fit and should be maintaining their ideal weight,” Falancy told reporters in a forum here on Wednesday.