FIRST SAY:
The war against hunger is truly mankind's war of liberation. Happiness rarely keeps company with an empty stomach. An empty stomach is not a good political advisor. A hungry man is an angry one.
Previous presidents before President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos had tried to ensure food security for the nation. Whatever accomplishments they made in this regard must have been lacking, because now the leadership still needs to provide enough food for the booming population.
The President is pushing for a whole-of-government approach to gain food security and proper nutrition in a bid to promote zero hunger and nutrition security in the Philippines under the administration’s Philippine Development Plan 2023-2028.
In a two-page Memorandum Circular No. 47 signed by Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin recently, President Marcos directed all government agencies and urged all local government units (LGUs) to support the implementation of the Enhanced Partnership Against Hunger and Poverty (EPAHP) program.
The EPAHP is one of the banner programs of the Task Force on Zero Hunger, which aims to institutionalize efforts to mitigate hunger and promote food and nutrition security by linking Community Based Organizations (CBOs) to prospective markets and providing credit assistance to support food production, processing and distribution.
Fighting hunger and ensuring that millions of Filipinos have food on their tables, even if the food is not enough, is as much an emergency concern as fighting poverty is. Both hunger, malnutrition and poverty may be remedied by the creation of more jobs and other livelihood sources in the economy. The citizens, however poor, do not want to be tied forever to dole-outs and “ayuda,” since if practiced for a long time, financial assistance by the government promotes laziness and dehumanizes the recipients.
Early in his term, at a Cabinet meeting in September 2022, PBBM directed several departments to craft a three-year Food Logistics Action Agenda aimed at revolutionizing the country's food distribution system. The order was specifically for the Departments of Agriculture, Trade and Industry, Transportation, Public Works and Highways, Information and Communications Technology, and the Interior and Local Government to develop a food logistics chain, cold chain industry, ports infrastructure, and farm-to-market roads.
The Presidential Communications Office said the action plan’s general objective is to ensure the availability, accessibility, and affordability of food for Filipinos and that consumers reliably get the right product at the right time. Nearing two years after the issuance of this directive, we wonder what have these departments done by way of compliance.
Now, Malacañang had to do some reiteration, saying all government agencies and instrumentalities should support the continuous and effective implementation of the EPAHP Program to bolster government efforts towards attaining zero hunger, food and nutrition security, and sustainable agriculture.
The Task Force Zero Hunger, established through Executive Order (EO) No. 10 s. 2020, as amended by EO 27 s. 2023, is directed to ensure the continued and effective implementation of the EPAHP Program, as it is mandated to carry out measures in coordination with the relevant government agencies.
The measures include efforts to strengthen institutional feeding programs of partner agencies; extend credit assistance to support food production, processing and distribution in partnership with government financial intuitions; and link participating CBOs to prospective markets.
The task force is also mandated to enhance provision of farm production technologies and extension of services to government-assisted family farms and rural based-organizations, as well as enhancing the sustainability of the EPAHP Program through implementation of policies that will engage private sector, and institutionalize mechanisms in LGUs.
It is also directed to adopt Community Participation Procurement to encourage CBOs to participate in the EPAHP Program, and construct, repair and improve irrigation facilities and appurtenant structures in irrigable areas in the countryside.
It’s about time the concerned government agencies tasked to help the nation attain food security, fight hunger and poverty through the specific programs listed by the President deliver some results.
Comments