Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City
SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS

First Regular Session

House Bill No. D199

Introduced by Hon. Delphine Gan Lee and Hon. Orestes T. Salon

EXPLANATORY NOTE
Filipino children are more malnourished than ever.

The Philippine chronic malnutrition rate among children aged 0-2 was at 26.2%, the
highest in 10 years, according to a recent survey by the Food and Nutrition Research
Institute (FNRI) of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST). That report is filed by
FNRI on child hunger and malnutrition on April 19, 2016.

Around a third of school children in the Philippines are undernourished, according to
the country's Food and Nutrition Research Institute.

And in a country where one in 10 Filipino families lives in extreme poverty, these
findings come as no surprise. A recent survey conducted by the charity Save the Children
found that one in four Filipino children sometimes skip meals and as many as 1.5 milion
children often go a whole day without a single meal.

The Philippines Department of Education warns that as many as 1.8 million Filipino
children suffer from “severe malnourishment".

Undernutrition is also a problem exacerbated by mothers who give birth when they
are too young, “lf teenagers get pregnant at a young age and are malnourished they most
likely will produce children that are also malnourished,” said Lilibeth Dasco, Senior Science
Research, Food and Nutrition Research Institute.

According to the Food and Nutrition Research Institute, children from the ages of 0-

10 years old are the most at risk. This has potentially devastating short and long-term effects
like stunting.

According to a recent Save the Children report, widespread malnutrition has led to
stunted growth among people - and one in three children under the age of five suffers from
this condition,

United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) reports that around the world, nearly half
of all deaths in children under 5 are attributable to undernutrition, This translates into the
unnecessary loss of about 3 million young lives a year. Undernutrition puts children at
Greater risk of dying from common infections, increases the frequency and severity of such


infections, and contributes to delayed recovery. In addition, the interaction between
undernutrition and infection can create a potentially lethal cycle of worsening illness and
deteriorating nutritional status. Poor nutrition in the first 1,000 days of a child's life can also
lead to stunted growth, which is irreversible and associated with impaired cognitive ability
and reduced school and work performance,

These numbers are based on facts; these numbers represent the dire reality that we
as Fillpinos and as citizens of this world face. It Is high time that we as a nation do our part in
order to curb the serious problem that presents itself to us as we ply to and from work every
single day in the form of countless children in the street looking for their next meal, With this
bill, | hope in no small part to start the ball rolling and become a part of the solution rather
than the problem as a member of this humble chamber by creating bills such as this to give

attention to a problem that requires every bit of help we can give in order to cut down on
malnutrition in all its forms,

The urgent passing of this bill is thus earnestly sought.

We ‘GAN-LEE ORESTES T. SALON

Sectoral Representative Sectoral Representative
AGRI Party-List AGRI Party-List


Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City
SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session
House Bil No, 5193
ee

Introduced by Hon. Delphine Gan Lee and Hon, Orestes T. Salon

AN ACT
PROVIDING FREE FOOD FOR CHILDREN IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND DAY CARE
CENTERS FROM PRODUCTS OF FARMERS PURCHASED BY THE GOVERNMENT
OTHERWISE KNOWNS AS, “SCHOOL FEEDING PURCHASED FROM SMALL SCALE
PRODUCERS”

Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Philippine in
Congress assembled:

Section 1. Title. - This act shall be known as the “School Feeding Purchased From Small
Scale Producers”

Section 2. Declaration Policy. ~ It is the policy of the State to feed the children and secure
their education. It is also the policy of the State to free the people from poverty by providing
a guaranteed market for the products of the farmers, thereby promoting full employment in
the agricultural sector, presently the sector with the highest poverty incidence,

Section 3. School Feeding Program. — A school feeding program shall be mandatory in all
Public day care centers, preschools and elementary schools. As for the public schools
mentioned where two (2) batches of students come in the morning and the afternoon, it is
hereby declared that 2 sessions of the feeding program is to be created for the equal feeding
of all students in all schools. This school feeding program shall be administered by the
Secretary of the Department of Education.

School feeding shall be made available free of charge to school children in all public
day care centers, preschools, and elementary schools, Feeding shall be done before
Classes’ start, preferably an hour before class starts.

School feeding programs must meet the applicable recommendations of the Food
and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI). The decisions about what specific food to serve and
how they are prepared shall be made by the school authorities, based on guidelines to be
issued by the Secretary of the Department of Education.

Section 4. Small-Scale Producers Registry. ~ The Department of Agriculture (DA) shall
keep and regularly update a list of Small-Scale Producers. It shall use Registry for Basic
Sectors in Agriculture (RSBSA), Regional Field Office (RFO) list of beneficiaries for farmers


and update the database to also include livestock breeders, the Bureau of Fisheries and
Aquatic Resources’ National Program for Municipal Fisher folk Registration. (BFAR FishR)
for fisher folks and any other list it may deem necessary to keep the registry up to date.
Furthermore, the DA is required to coordinate with the DSWD to cross-match and compare
the registry with the DSWD's National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction
(NHTS-PR) to avoid duplication and redundaney. :

Section 5. Guaranteed Market for Farmers Fund. - A Guaranteed Market for Farmers
Fund shall be established which shall be administered by the Department of Education, Five
Billion Pesos (P5,000,000,000.00) shall be appropriated from the National Treasury for this
Purpose upon the effectivity of this Act. For every succeeding year thereafter, such amount
shall be increased by increments of at least Five Billion Pesos (P5,000,000,000.00)..

Section 6, Guaranteed Market for Farmers. ~ Farmers, identified by the Department of
Agriculture (DA) and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) under the
National Household Targeting Survey to be living in poverty, shall be given a guarantee that
their produce shall be purchased by the government. The maximum amount to be allocated
for each farmer shall be determined as to ensure their net income shall not fall below the
poverty threshold for their respective localities/regions.

Section 7. Technical Training and Assistance. - The Secretary of the Department of
Education, in consultation with the Secretary of the Department of Health, the Director of the
FNRI, and the Director-General/Secretary of the Technical Education and Skills
Development Authority (TESDA), shall develop a program to provide the food service
Personnel of public day care centers, preschools, elementary schools with technical training
and assistance to prepare healthy meals. The same personnel shall be responsible for
securing the produce of the identified farmers from the respective localities.

Section 8. Implementing Rules and Regulations. ~ Within ninety (90) days from the
approval of this Act, the Secretary of the Department of Education, the Secretary of the
Department of Health, the Director of the FNRI, and the Director-General/Secretary of the
TESDA, and other appropriate government agencies, shall promulgate the rules and
regulations to implement the provisions of this Act. Such rules and regulations shall take
effect fifteen (15) days after its publication in a newspaper of general circulation.

Section 9. Separability Clause. - Should any provision of this Act be subsequently declared
as unconstitutional, the same shall not affect the validity or the legality of the other
provisions,

Section 10. Repealing Clause. - All laws, decrees, orders, rules and regulations, other
issuances, or parts thereof inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are hereby repealed,
modified or amended accordingly.

Section 11. Effectivity. - This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after publication in the
Official Gazette or two (2) newspapers of general circulation.

Approved,