Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 23:15:00 04/11/2008

MANILA, Philippines -- The Department of Education is confident its multibillion-peso Food-for-School Program will not be affected in the next school year by what Education Secretary Jesli A. Lapus calls a "perceived rice crisis" in the country.

In a text message to the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Lapus said "so far, DepEd programming (for its school feeding program) has not been affected."

"If at all, since the DepEd rice distribution program has proven to be a very effective means in reaching the poor, it should even be tapped and enhanced further for the National Food Authority or for any rice crisis distribution plans," said Lapus, now in Paris for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization conference.

The DepEd Health and Nutrition Center (HNC) said it would continue providing education and nutrition to schoolchildren in the country's most depressed areas.

HNC Director Thelma Santos reported that the school feeding program was succeeding as "the proportion of children with below normal nutritional classification status decreased from 20 percent in 2006 to 17 percent last year."

For school year 2008-2009, the HNC has targeted some 2.7 million schoolchildren as program beneficiaries.

Under the program, each student will be given a daily ration of one kilo of rice for 180 days.

According to Santos, "the ration is distributed to students at the end of classes each day in an effort to motivate them to return to school the next day."

"By luring schoolchildren from poor families to attend classes, the DepEd hopes to arrest school dropout rates as well as defeat the students'' malnutrition level," noted Santos.

Last year, the DepEd served a total of 2,620,058 pupils in 6,303 public elementary schools located in 15 regions nationwide.

Metro Manila topped the list of beneficiaries with 1.2 million schoolchildren, followed by Bicol (283,882), Western Mindanao (267,293) and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (230,375).

The DepEd also provided iron-fortified noodles and bread to 48,347 schoolchildren from 689 schools all over the country.

For its 180-day food-for-school program, the DepEd needs to procure 489.4 million kilos of rice worth P9.91 billion.

However, the Arroyo administration has allocated only P2.58 billion in this year's national budget for the DepEd and another P766 for a similar program of the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

In a report furnished the Inquirer, the DepEd said the program's "Priority One" provinces alone require a total of P3,921,710,175.

The DepEd's Priority One provinces are Zamboanga del Norte, Masbate, Maguindanao, Shariff Kabunsuan, Agusan del Sur, Surigao del Norte, Mountain. Province, Lanao del Norte, Camarines Norte, Saranggani, Zamboanga Sibugay, and Marinduque.

A total of P499,780,530 is needed by for the agency's Priority Two provinces: Palawan, Occidental Mindoro, Oriental Mindoro, Romblon, Camarines Sur, Antique, Samar, Misamis Occidental, Surigao del Sur, Sultan Kudarat, Abra, Negros Oriental, Bukidnon, Lanao del Sur, Sulu, Davao Oriental, Kalinga, Biliran, and Tawi-Tawi.

The program's Priority Three provinces, on the other hand, have budgetary requirements of P782,989,740: Leyte, Camiguin, La Union, Ifugao, Quezon, Albay, Sorsogon, Aklan, Iloilo, Negros Occidental, Catanduanes, Bohol, Eastern Samar, Northern Samar, Southern Leyte, Zamboanga del Sur, Davao del Norte, Cotabato, South Cotabato, Apayao, Capiz, Basilan, and Agusan del Norte.

Metro Manila schools, meanwhile, were allocated a total of P492,698,295.

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