Gov’t sourcing funds for new anti-hunger drive amid pandemic—Nograles

MANILA, Philippines — The government is currently looking for sources of funds to finance a new anti-hunger initiative that will provide food assistance for malnourished children aged 6 months to 23 months old and nutritionally-at-risk pregnant women, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said Wednesday.

In an online interview with INQUIRER.net, Nograles said the  Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) approved the dietary supplementation program in response to the rising number of families experiencing involuntary hunger in the past months because of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

The program involves the house-to-house distribution of nutritious food products––food packs produced by the DOST-FNRI (Department of Science and Technology – Food and Nutrition Research Institute) such as nutribuns, iron fortified rice, instant laing, and instant pochero.

Nograles, chair of the Task Force Zero Hunger, said the National Nutrition Council’s Operation Timbang will help identify stunted and wasted children who will receive the assistance.

“Nakaidentify na ‘yan kasi nagawa na natin ‘yan noong 2019. So we’re able to capture that data. So ang kulang nalang talaga ay ‘yung funding necessary to implement it,” Nograles told INQUIRER.net.

The program is consistent with Republic Act 11148, or the “Kalusugan at Nutrition ng Mag-Nanay Act” or “The First 1,000 Days Law,” which  President Duterte signed on Nov. 29, 2018.

Nograles said some P62 million may be tapped from the law’s 2020 appropriation.

“We hope to be able to add more to that so we can be able to cover more nutritionally-at-risk pregnant women at 6 to 23 months old children,” Nograles said.

“With that P62 million we can only cover one province siguro,” he added.

The Palace official said 32 provinces have been identified as priority areas due to the high incidence of poverty and other nutritional issues.

The executive branch has also committed to look for possible budget sources in line with the Bayanihan to Recover As One Act or Bayanihan 2.

“It’s allowed naman under Bayanihan 2. Under Bayanihan 2 the President is allowed, the executive is allowed to look for sources of additional funds,” Nograles said.

The Bayanihan 2 extended the validity of Duterte’s special powers to realign items under the 2020 national budget which Congress earlier granted to respond to the COVID-19 crisis.

The former lawmaker likewise noted that the government is open to working with the private sector to expand the coverage of the program.

READ: Palace: Children aged 6-23 mos, at-risk pregnant women to get dietary supplements

/MUF