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THE
government may conduct its own survey to gauge hunger
levels in the country if it proves to be “necessary” to
check the progress of its Accelerated Hunger Mitigation
Program, Health Secretary Francisco Duque said on
Monday.
Duque
told Palace reporters that he, Agriculture Secretary
Arthur Yap and Social Welfare Secretary Esperanza Cabral
agreed that such a survey may be necessary, though this
will be subject to the approval of other members of the
newly-formed Anti-Hunger Task Force, which Duque heads.
The idea
was spurred by the fact that the Social Weather Stations
Inc. (SWS) is the only group conducting surveys on
hunger levels.
“Secretaries Yap, Cabral and I feel that it may be time
to have our own survey so that we could validate [the
findings of the SWS survey]....It depends on the
recommendation of the task force members,” he said.
He noted
the SWS asked its respondents if they had experienced
hunger in the last three months and whether this was
experienced infrequently, frequently or all the time.
“It is
very subjective if you look at it. It’s difficult to
measure. Even those of us here experience hunger
sometimes,” he said.
Duque
and Yap also denied allegations that the President’s
order to release P1.277 billion from the 2006
supplemental budget to implement the food-for-school
program is meant to score points for the administration
during the elections.
At the
National Nutrition Council (NNC) board meeting presided
by the President last week, she ordered the Department
of Education to speed up the implementation of the rice
distribution/hot meals/milk distribution in the National
Capital Region and priority provinces from March 19 to
May 31 using the 2006 supplemental budget, in
collaboration with Church-based organizations.
Asked
why the food-for-school program would be held during
summer months, when classes have ended, Duque stressed
that this would be carried out in coordination with
Church leaders and groups “to ensure the provision of
food to intended beneficiaries.”
He said
no politician, especially those seeking elective posts,
would be allowed to participate in the program, which he
assured would “withstand public scrutiny.” |
