Senator: Convicts fed better than school children

MANILA, Philippines - Senate Minority Leader Ralph Recto is pushing for an increase in the budget for the government’s school feeding program, the current level of which he said is not enough to nourish poor children.

Recto said that at a mere P13 per meal, poor school children are being fed less than the country’s convicted criminals, who get a budget of P17 per meal in prison.

“If we are bothered by the small food budget given to convicts, then we should be outraged over the pitifully smaller allocation for meals of children in daycare centers and schools,” Recto said, citing the P50 individual daily food budget of the country’s 135,000 inmates.

Recto is proposing a hike to P25 per meal, which he said would cost the government only an additional P2.5 billion, which is “small compared to the estimated P328 billion annual economic losses caused by childhood malnutrition.” 

Of the P2.5 billion total budget, P1 billion will go to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) so it can hike its 2017 budget for supplemental feeding program to P4.42 billion and enable it to serve one P25 meal to 1.74 million children aged 2 to 4 enrolled in daycares for 120 days.

The balance of P1.53 billion will go to the Department of Education (DepEd), to increase its feeding program budget to P5.17 billion, so it can provide one daily meal for 120 days to 1.9 million “severely wasted and underweight” children ages five (kindergarten) to 11 (grade six).

During the debates on the proposed P3.35 trillion national budget for 2017, officials from both DepEd and DSWD admitted that current funding levels for feeding programs are not enough to reverse the ravages of malnutrition.

“Anyone who can whip up a nutritious meal on P13 should win the Magsaysay Award in kitchenomics,” Recto said. “No kitchenette would be able to prepare a meal worth P13 only. There is also no cook who can say that he can feed thousands of children with just a budget of P13 for each of them.”

In pushing for the increase in the school feeding program budget, Recto stressed that the DSWD and DepEd should be able to utilize the funds efficiently and on time, unlike what the DepEd did in 2015.

Citing official audit and fund utilization reports, Recto said DepEd delayed the release of P1.4 billion out of last year’s P2.4 billion in school feeding funds, transferring it to the regions only in November or when 2015 was about to end, defeating the program’s aim of a 120-day feeding schedule.

He noted that the poor utilization of this particular fund “bordered on criminal neglect.”

Even if the P25 budget for meals that he is pushing for is not granted in full, Recto said that he would be happy to see any increase in the current P13 allocation.