REPRESENTATIVE Raul del Mar of Cebu City's north district has filed three bills that seek to help the poor, save families in severe hunger, and prevent the stunting of children.
The bills were filed with the House of Representatives last Friday, October 16. One bill, House Bill (HB) 7899, would assure the release of the SAP subsidy in four quarterly tranches to low-income families every year. Another bill, HB 7900, would provide monthly cash subsidy to families considered "in sever hunger." A third bill, HB 7901, seeks to produce "healthier, brighter and taller" children by giving cash assistance to pregnant women and parents of children aged 0 to 23 months who are not covered by the government's existing dietary programs.
Del Mar -- who was also a principal author of the Magna Carta of the Poor, which President Rodrigo Duterte signed into law (Republic Act 11291) on April 12, 2019 -- said the need to help the poor was never more acutely felt than during the Covid-19 crisis.
But poverty, with hunger and its other harrowing results such as stunted children, Del Mar said, persists and continues to afflict many poor Filipinos even without a plague or disaster.
The three bills and the program that each proposes:
1) HB 7899, which institutionalizes the Social Amelioration Program (SAP) by regularly releasing in at four quarterly tranches each year.
The SAP subsidy was one of the most effective forms of assistance by the government to 17.6 million low-income families during the Covid-19 pandemic.
SAP under Bayanihan 1 came in two tranches. The first tranche in the amount of P99.933 billion for the month of March but distributed in April. The second tranche in the amount of P83.300 billion for April distributed in May. Under Bayanihan 2, only P6 billion was allocated to finance DSWD projects but not specifically as SAP. Moreover, there is no allocation for SAP in next year's budget.
Del Mar's bill seeks to institutionalize SAP and ensure allocations in at least four equal quarterly tranches in a year. When funds are available, it may be increased to 12 equal monthly tranches.
2) HB 7900, which aims to save families in severe hunger.
Del Mar's bill proposes a monthly cash subsidy to the families in severe hunger, defined for the purpose as families suffering from severe hunger often or always. They are families that have no steady income for the daily food on the table, always hounded by the prospect of not having anything to eat today or the next day. They are literally starving and malnourished and sick, or on the verge of illness or death.
The monthly cash subsidy will be in the amount of P6,588 per family, which is the average amount of monthly help received from the government. This amount is hardly enough to survive on, considering that the amount of P6,588 monthly would provide a family of five members the amount of P73.20 a day and only P14.64 per meal per family member.
The ultimate goal, Del Mar said, is to include the 5.5 million families/households that are classified under moderate hunger. But that will need an additional P434.80 million, which at present is not feasible because of limited finances. A provision in the measure will include them in the future when funds are available.
3) HB 7901, which seeks to prevent the stunting of children and make every Filipino child healthier, brighter and taller.
Stunting is a crisis that does not only affect physical growth of children. It also impacts on the individual's intellectual development and the country's economic growth. Recent studies suggest that childhood under-nutrition in the Philippines costs the country a loss of 1.5 percent to 3 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) per year.
The Dietary Supplement Program proposed in Del Mar's bill seeks to provide cash assistance to pregnant women and parents of children aged 0 to 23 months who are not covered by current dietary aid programs by the government. The cash aid will provide them access to sufficient and quality supplementary food.
Overall, the purpose is to provide opportunity for the children to grow up healthier, brighter and taller. Other than seeking to promote the well-being of the new generation of citizens, the proposed program is a sound investment in human capital to help spur economic development. (PR)