The Bongbong-Sara Uniteam will be looking to end the continuing malnutrition problem caused by the alarming poverty in the country should they win in the 2022 May national elections.

Malnutrition has been a serious problem in the Philippines, with the country ranked fifth in the East Asia and Pacific area and one of the top 10 countries in the world with a high number of stunted children.

According to the tandem, the country's world ranking in malnutrition must be considered a critical concern and if given the chance, they will strengthen the campaign against it.

“Talaga namang malaking hamon ang malnutrition sa lahat ng dumaang administrasyon, hindi tayo nawawala sa pandaigdigang listahan kapag pinag-uusapan ang ganitong problema, kaya naman dapat talagang paigtingin ng ating gobyerno ang kampanya laban dito pero syempre dapat solusyonan din natin ang lumalalang problema ng kahirapan sa ating bansa na nagiging puno’t dulo ng kagutuman (Malnutrition has been a huge challenge to all the past administrations and we have never missed the world list when this problem is tackled. That is why the government should intensify the campaign against it but we need to find solutions with the worsening problem of poverty in the country which is the root cause of hunger),” the Bongbong-Sara Uniteam said in statement Sunday, Nov. 28.

“Malnutrition is a consequence of persistent hunger, and hunger a consequence of extreme poverty.”

They added that the COVID-19 pandemic has worsened the problem of hunger and poverty after many people lost their jobs and businesses.

Following the pandemic outbreak, hunger levels in the country soared. In a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey last September 2020, the seven-month long community quarantine caused 31% of households to experience hunger and 9% experienced severe hunger which was the highest levels in more than 20 years.

“Ngayon, mas lumala pa ‘yung problema natin, dahil nga dito sa Covid-19 pandemic, marami ang nawalan ng trabaho, ng pagkakakitaan, kaya mas marami ang nakararanas ng gutom, pasalamat tayo kahit papaano dahil sa ngayon unti-unti nang bumabangon at gumagalaw ang ating ekonomiya (The problem has worsened now because of the Covid-19 pandemic with many losing their jobs, their livelihood and that is why many are experiencing hunger. But we have to be thankful that we are slowly recovering and our economy is moving),” the Bongbong-Sara tandem said.

“Kapag tuluyan nang nagbukas ang ating ekonomiya, ang iisipin agad natin ay ‘yung trabaho, ‘yung pagkakakitaan ng mga tao, gawa tayo ng mas maraming trabaho, kasi ang puno’t dulo ng lahat ng ito, ng malnutrisyon ay kahirapan, ang pinaka-apektado pa naman dito ay ‘yung mga kabataan, mga estudyante (If the economy opens completely, we have to think of jobs, livelihood, we have to create more jobs because the root cause of all these things, malnutrition is poverty and mostly affected are the youth, the students).”

The tandem also lauded the government's efforts especially the Department of Education (DepEd) program to alleviate the hunger situation in public schools. DepEd has implemented school-based feeding programs such as breakfast feeding programs which aim at addressing short-term hunger and malnutrition among public students.

“Ngayon ang alam natin mayroong regular feeding program sa mga eskwelahan, kaya lang ang tingin nating problema lang diyan hindi sapat ‘yung araw kung papaano ginagawa ‘yung programa, sa tuwing nasa paaralan lang ba sila, ‘yun ‘yung dapat nating isaalang-alang, ‘yung implementasyon ng programa, pero natutuwa tayo dahil maganda ang programang ito para sa mga kabataang kulang sa nutrisyon (For now we know that we have a regular feeding program in our schools. But we can see that the problem is we don't have enough days to implement the program work which is something we should consider. However, we are happy that we have a good program for the youth lacking nutrition),” the Bongbong-Sara Uniteam said.

“Mas magandang makipag-ugnayan pa tayo sa ibat-ibang ahensiya ng gobyerno para sa problemang ito, maging sa lokal na pamahalaan, dapat talaga natin ito’ng solusyonan kasi alam naman natin na ang batang gutom, walang laman ang tiyan, ay hindi nakakapag-aral ng maayos, bumababa ‘yung posibilidad na matuto sila (We have to coordinate with the various government agencies including the local governments to address this problem. We have to find solutions because we know that a hungry child won't be able to study well and their learning will go down).”

“Maraming paraan na pwede nating idagdag sa kasalukuyang programa, ‘yung pang-matagalang solusyon at ‘yung makakatulong talaga para sa tao, sa mga estudyante at sa lahat ng nagugutom (There are many ways that we can add to the current program, it could be a long-term solution that is helpful to people, students and everyone who is hungry),” the Bongbong-Sara Uniteam added.