Poe asks Senate to make school feeding program bill a priority

MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Grace Poe pushed the Senate on Tuesday to prioritize passage of a bill to establish a national school-based feeding program, saying the country needs it to address "food poverty."

 

"Now that Congress has resumed session, the school-based feeding program should be included in the Senate's priority bills that it wants to be passed as soon as possible," Poe said in a press statement.

 

Poe, co-sponsor of Senate Bill 1297 or An Act Creating a National School Feeding Program to Combat Hunger and Undernutrition for all Basic Education Students, said that the bill should be allowed smooth sailing in Congress.

 

According to a quarterly survey by Social Weather Stations, about 34 percent Filipinos, or 7.7 million families, think of themselves as "food poor" in the fourth quarter of 2016. Food poverty refers to the inability to have an adequate and nutritious diet, usually because these are beyond one's means.

 

While the SWS said that the number of self-rated "food poor" has been declining for six consecutive quarters, the percentage in the fourth quarter was slightly higher than the 30 percent reported in the third quarter of 2016.

 

READ: Poll: Declining self-rated poverty hits new record low

 

Poe said that the survey results send signals that policies to bring food to the table are much needed.

 

"We should give our children the proper support and protection to empower them to become productive," she added.

 

Sen. Paolo Benigno "Bam" Aquino III, chairman of the Senate Education, Arts and Culture Committee, as well as principal sponsor of SB 1297, also made the bill a priority of the committee.

 

"We got a lot of support when I gave the sponsorship speech last year," Aquino said in a televised interview on Monday.

 

He added that there were at least six or seven senators who showed interest in pushing the bill further.

 

"We have to prioritize this at some point and a lot of us in the Senate feel that this is one of those initiatives that has to be prioritized," Aquino said.

 

Poe has been pushing for the institutionalization of a free in-school feeding program since she ran for the Senate in 2013.

 

The bill was filed on December 12, 2016 by Senators Poe, Aquino, Gregorio Honasan II, Juan Miguel Zubiri, Loren Legarda and Vicente Sotto III.