HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES:
RECEIVED

20 ante

Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

D,

SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

1764

HOUSE BILL No.

Introduced by BAYAN MUNA
Rep. CARLOS ISAGANI T. ZARATE

AN ACT
INSTITUTIONALIZING THE NATIONAL SCHOOL FEEDING PROGRAM FOR
PUBLIC KINDERGARTEN AND ELEMENTARY PUPILS AND APPROPRIATING
FUNDS THEREFOR

EXPLANATORY NOTE

“The future lies in the hands of today's children. To prepare them for their role as our future
leaders, they must be afforded quality nutrition to give them a good start in developing their skills and
potentials during their tender years. Adequate and quality nutrition is integral to a child's total
development.

Food is the most basic of all necessities that, unfortunately, cannot be adequately provided by
all parents to their children all the time. Regular meals have become a privilege to most. A child going
to school on an empty stomach is a crude testament of the grinding poverty besetting most Filipinos,

‘This Bill seeks to re-file House Bill 5618, entitled “A Act Institutionalizing The National School
Feeding Program For Public Kindergarten And Elementary Pupils And Appropriating Funds Therefor”. The
original and mother bill, House Bill 1452, entitled “n Act Providing ForA Mandatory Nationwide Child
Nudrtion Program In All Public Elementary Schools And Barangay Day Care Centers”, was authored by former
Bayan Muna Party-list Rep. Teddy Casino in the 15" Congress and was re-filed by Bayan Muna Party-
list Representatives Neri Colmenares and Carlos Zarate during the 16" Congress with one objective:
to institutionalize a Nationwide School Feeding Program (NSFP). The institutionalization of an NSFP
is a realization of our children’s right to adequate food while at the same time gives our less fortunate
more capacity to appreciate their right to education. .

‘The Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI) of the Department of Science and
Technology (DOST), by virtue of Executive Order No. 128, is mandated to conduct research every
five years on the nutritional status of the population particularly malnutrition. Its latest 2008 surv
results include the following:

1. The number of Filipino children who were underweight and under-height or stunted
increased from 2005 to 2008;


2. The prevalence of underweight children aged 0-5 years increased from 24.6 percent to 26.2
percent, about 3.35 million children;

3. The under-height rate increased from 26.3 percent to 27.9 percent, representing 3.57 million
children; and

4, There was also a significant increase in the prevalence of underweight children aged 6-10
years from 22.8 percent in 2005 to 25.6 percent in 2008, equivalent to 2.6 million. The number
of underheight children in this age group likewise increased from 32 percent to 33.1 percent.

‘The research also showed that a very high level of acute malnutrition among preschoolers
(aged 0-5) was noted in six regions, namely Mimaropa, Bicol, Western Visayas, Eastern Visayas,
Zamboanga Peninsula and Socesksargen where the underweight-for-age prevalence was at least 30
percent.

A high prevalence of undetheight-for-age or stunted preschoolers was mostly observed in
Mimaropa, Bicol, and all the regions in the Visayas and Mindanao.

Chronic malnutrition affected a very high percentage of preschoolers in the provinces of
Masbate, Biliran, Northern Samar, Western Samat, Zamboanga Sibugay, Satangani, Abra and
Mountain Province.

Meanwhile, the regions with very high prevalence of stunted schoolchildren were Mimaropa,
Eastern Visayas, Zamboanga Peninsula, Northern Mindanao and Socesksargen.

According to FNRI, long standing or chronic malnutrition affected a very high percentage of
schoolchildren in 25 provinces, including Abra, Aurora, Mindoro Occidental, Mindoro Oriental,
Marinduque, Catanduanes, Masbate, Negros Occidental, Northern Samar, Western Samar, Leyte,

Bukidnon, Agusan del Sur, Davao del Norte, Davao Oriental, Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga
Sibugay, Misamis Occidental, Sultan Kudarat, Lanao del Norte, Lanao del Sur and Basilan.

Immediate approval of this Bill is earnestly sought.

Approved,

a ’
Rep. CARLOS" BOER re

Bayan Muna Party-list


Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

HOUSE BILL No. 1764

Introduced by BAYAN MUNA
Rep. CARLOS ISAGANI T. ZARATE

AN ACT
INSTITUTIONALIZING THE NATIONAL SCHOOL FEEDING PROGRAM FOR
PUBLIC KINDERGARTEN AND ELEMENTARY PUPILS AND APPROPRIATING
FUNDS THEREFOR

SECTION 1. Short Title, — This Act shall be known as the “National School Feeding Program
(NSFP) Act”.

SEC. 2. Declaration of Policy. — It is hereby declared the policy of the State to promote the rights
of children to survival, development, and special protection with full recognition on the nature of
childhood and its special needs.

Recognizing the direct correlation between good nutrition and the propensity of children to
develop into physically and mentally healthy individuals, the State shall endeavor to promote and
fortify proper nutrition among school children, especially those belonging to low-income households,
in order to safeguard them from the ill effects of malnutrition and to enhance as well their learning

capacities,
SEC. 3. Definition of Terms, — As used in this Act:

2) Fortified food refers to food with deliberately increased content of essential micronutrient, ie
vitamins and minerals (including trace elements) irrespective of whether or not the nutrients
were otiginally in the food before processing, so as to improve the nutritional quality of the
food supply and to provide a public health benefit with minimal risk to health;

b) Fresh milk refers to pasteurized fresh milk with limited shelf life, usually seven (7) to ten (10)
days, and requiring refrigeration;

©) Fresh milk-based food refers to food product containing fresh milk blended with powdered milk;

d) National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR) ot Listabanan refers to an
information management system that identifies who and where the poor are in the country
and serves as a reference in identifying potential beneficiaries of social protection program;
and


©) Powdered milk refers to a manufactured dairy product made by evaporating milk into powder
form purposely to preserve it and to have a far longer shelf life than liquid milk due to its low
moisture content.

SEC. 4. Objectives. ~ ‘The National School Feeding Program (NSFP) shall pursue the following
objectives:

a) Ensure that adequate health and nutrition programs are accessible to school children
throughout their early childhood years;

b) Achieve improved survival rates attendance in public kindergarten and elementary schools;

©) Enhance the physical, social, cognitive, psychological, and language development of young
children;

d) Mitigate malnourishment among school children, thus, ensuring that they will be adequately
prepared for the formal learning system; and

©) Establish an efficient system for early identification, prevention, referral, and intervention of
developmental disorders and disabilities in early childhood.

SEC, 5. Establishment of the NSFP. - ‘The NSFP is hereby established as an alternative approach
of providing free supplementary meals, including fresh milk-based food products, through a program
menu that shall be designed by the Department of Education (DepED) particularly for children
studying in public kindergarten and elementary schools nationwide.

SEC. 6. Implementation and Interagency Coordination. — The DepED is hereby authorized to
lead in the administration and implementation of the NSFP.

In coordination with the DepED, the following national government agencies shall be tasked
to make available such resources as may be necessary to ensure the successful implementation of the
NSFP:

a) The Department of Agriculture (DA) and the National Food Authority (NFA) shall tap
farmers associations and cooperatives in the locality for possible sources of food supplies and
shall share with the DepED any available resources and facilities that may be used for the
NSFP;

b) The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) shall help enlist the support
of local government units (LGUs) 2s DepED partners in the operation of the NSFP,
including the possibility of utilizing the services of barangay nutrition scholars and barangay
health workers;

©) The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) shall support the DepED by
ensuring the availability of data on poor households based on the NHTS-PR ot Listahanan;


d) The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), the DA, the Department of Health (DOH)
and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) shall help the DepED look for cost-effective
sources of foodstuff, vaccines, and vitamin supplements;

¢) The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) shall support the DepED in
the determination of official development assistance sources to expand the inputs needed in
the NSFP;

f) The National Dairy Authority (NDA) shall support the DepED in the procurement of fresh
milk-based food products and in coordinating with local cooperatives and daity corporations
for the availability of milk supplies needed; and

g) The National Nutrition Council (NNC), in coordination with the Food and Nutrition
Research Institute (FNRI, shall provide the menu consisting of a combination of foods that
meet the recommended energy and nutrient intake of children.

‘The DepED, the participating national government agencies, and other concerned stakeholders
shall execute a Memorandum of Agreement specifying the necessary arrangements relative to the
operation of the NSFP.

SEC. 7. Mechanics of the NSFP. — In addition to its interdepartmental coordinative and
consultative tasks during the operation of the NSFP, the DepED shall oversee the following activities:

a) Administer the NSFP, in coordination with concerned government institutions, for a
minimum of one hundred twenty (120) feeding days per school year to be done five (5) days a
week with one (1) feeding activity per school day;

b) Conduct orientation-training activities utilizing its core of trainors to all DepED health and
nutrition unit personnel at the regional and division levels so as to generate their support to
the NSFP’s objectives and mechanics. DepED personnel trained at the schools division level
shall be responsible for training the staff at the district and municipal levels while those trained
at the district and municipal levels shall be responsible for training the implementers and
feeding coordinators at the school level;

©) Conduct orientation meetings with parents and pupils utilizing the DepED feeding
coordinators for proper information dissemination on the NSFP’s objectives and mechanics
and in the process generate stakeholders’ support for the program;

d) Conduct simultaneous health examinations, including deworming and vaccination activities, to
participating pupils during the orientation meeting set for parents and pupils. The school’s
medical staff or the medical staff of a public health center in the community shall take charge
and provide proper treatment or referral to a hospital for pupils who are found to have
defects or ailments. Classroom advisers, who are required to undergo proper training to be
conducted by the barangay nutrition scholars and barangay health workers, shall note their


observations regarding the pupils’ health condition, including the measurement of the pupils’
height and weight before the start of the feeding program and every month thereafter for the
entire duration of the feeding program;

©) Make available the necessary food supplies such as:
i. Fresh milk-based and fortified foods; and
i, Vitamin supplements in such dosages and for such duration as the DOH may
determine most beneficial to the child’s health and nutritional well-being; and

) Ensure that the beneficiary school children eat their meals and drink their milk inside the
classroom only, and shall thus be prohibited from taking their ration home.

SEC. 8. Procurement, Storage and Handling System, ~ The procurement, storage and handling
of appropriate food supplies shall be speatheaded by the DepED, in coordination with the NNC, the
FNRI and other concerned government agencies. The DepED shall seck the help of the DA in
tapping the services of local farmers associations and cooperatives for the procurement of locally
produced food supplies and shall encourage contracts with farmers associations and cooperatives in
accordance with existing procurement laws.

In the procurement program, priority shall be given to the utilization of locally produced fresh
milk and locally available food supplies, utilizing as well the products of the Gulayan sa Paaralan
Project (GPP) of the DepED and the products of community gardens as part of convergence efforts
to increase food supplies at the local level.

‘The DepED shall issue the guidelines necessary for the effective implementation of the
procurement, storage and handling system.

SEC. 9. Priority LGUs. ~ In case of shortage of funds, priority in the implementation of the NSFP
shall be given to municipalities and cities which are determined and identified by the NNC ot by any
competent government agency to have high malnutrition rates

SEC. 10. Participation of LGUs. — The Secretary of Education shall initiate partnerships with LGU
officials to encourage them to contribute available resources to the feeding program in public schools
within the LGUs’ respective area of jurisdiction.

SEC. 11. Participation of Parent-Teacher Associations (PTAs). ~The DepED shall promote the
involvement of parents through the PTAs in the planning, implementation, monitoring, and
evaluation of the school feeding program.

SEC. 12. Monitoring and Evaluation System, — ‘The DepED shall establish a monitoring and
evaluation system for the nationwide implementation of the NSFP, which shall incorporate periodic
reports from the schools division and regional offices. The report shall provide, among others, the


needed information that may determine whether or not the program has achieved its objectives,
including the identification of issues and constraints as well as the corresponding appropriate

recommendations.

SEC. 13, Tax Exemption, — Any donation or bequest made to the DepED for the NSFP shall be
exempt from donor’s tax and the same shall be considered as allowable deduction from the gross
income of the donor, in accordance with the provisions of the National Internal Revenue Code of
1997, as amended: Provided, That the donation is duly approved by the Secretary of Education upon
the recommendation of the Executive Director of the NNC, in case of food products, and the

Secretary of Health, in case of vaccine and vitamin products.

SEC. 14. Appropriations. — The amount necessary to cover the initial implementation of this Act
shall be charged against the appropriation of the DepED for school-based feeding program under the
current General Appropriations Act. Thereafter, such sums as may be necessary for the continued
implementation of this Act shall be included in the annual General Appropriations Act.

SEC. 15, Implementing Rules and Regulations. — Within ninety (90) days from the approval of
this Act, the Secretary of Education, in consultation with the heads of other participating government
agencies, shall formulate the rules and regulations implementing the provisions of this Act. The
implementing rules and regulations issued pursuant to this section shall take effect thirty (30) days
after its publication in two (2) national newspapers of general circulation.

SEC. 16. Separability Clause. — \f any provision of this Act is held invalid or unconstitutional, the
other provisions not so declared shall remain in force and effect.

SEC. 17. Repealing Clause. — All laws, decrees, orders and rules and regulations contrary to ot
inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are hereby repealed or amended accordingly.

SEC. 18. Effectivity. — This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its publication in the Official
G

ette or in a newspaper of general circulation.

Approved,