Jollibee school feeding program takes off in Tarlac

MANILA, Philippines - The Jollibee Group Foundation marked the nationwide start of its eighth annual Busog, Lusog, Talino (BLT) school feeding program for this school year with a ceremonial launch held at the Cojuangco Elementary School, Paniqui, Tarlac. Leading the school feeding were Sen. Grace Poe and Jollibee Group Foundation president Grace Tan Caktiong.

Together with the local government of Tarlac, represented by Gov. Victor Yap and Vice Gov. Enrique Cojuangco Jr., and the Department of Education, represented by Undersecretary Mario Deriquito, the foundation is implementing the feeding program in 20 public elementary schools in the municipalities of Bamban, Camiling, Capas, Paniqui, Pura, Sta. Ignacia and Tarlac City among other cities and municipalities all over the country.

For school year 2014-2015, the BLT school feeding program will cover more than 1,200 schools nationwide, which will benefit over 50,000 selected elementary pupils from Kinder to Grade 6.

Since 2007, over 150,000 pupils have benefited from the program.

The BLT school feeding program is an initiative of the Jollibee Group Foundation together with partner institutions that provides daily lunch to undernourished public school pupils for 120 days during the school year to address hunger and malnutrition in public elementary schools in order to help pupils stay in school and learn better.

Poe has filed a bill in the Senate that intends to address child malnutrition by pushing for a standard free lunch program for public school children.