A divorce is always traumatic no matter how it was drawn up and settled. The entire process leaves a wound that time cannot heal. The UK officially left the European Union (EU) on January 31 after a majority of its citizens voted to sever ties with the EU three years ago. Instead of celebrating and welcoming the occasion with a bang, Brexit supporters gathered quietly at the Parliament Square to mark the historic event.
There were no fireworks or champagne. The event was subdued and somber. The sun finally sets on almost half a century of UK’s membership of the EU—a proud nation that once boasted during the height of its power that the sun never sets on its dominion. Prime Minister Boris Johnson called for unity and national renewal hours before Brexit. He intoned: “Our job as the government —my job—is to bring this country together and take us forward…. This is the moment when we begin to unite and level up.” I hope that this will be the case. While Brexit was finally obtained, this is not the last time we’ll hear about it. The anti-Brexit feeling representing 48 percent of the Britons who voted against it may still harbor and nurture the hope that someday the UK may reoccupy its membership at the EU. After all, the Irish PM has said: “There will always be a seat kept for them at the table” should the UK want to return. Well, that’s nothing new. Briton Richard Burton remarried Elizabeth Taylor even after a bitter divorce.
Now that it’s done with, what will be Brexit’s impact on the Philippines? Our BPO industry will likely be a Brexit beneficiary. As previously pointed out by the Nordic Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, “the Philippine outsourcing industry could gain more from Brexit in terms of a cheaper alternative for the UK. In more dire times, [British] companies will be looking for more cost efficiency which oftentimes can be found in markets like here in the Philippines, in that particular sector.” An improved relationship with the British government can also escalate trade between the two countries, as the Philippines is emerging as a growth market. Investors view this development more as an opportunity than a risk.
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President Trump was sued over his decision to roll back the regulations governing the meals served in schools implemented by former President Barack Obama. Trump’s action was challenged in court by several states, including Washington, D.C., which claim that the changes made by Trump present health risks to schoolchildren. Thirty million American kids in school rely on free school lunches subsidized by the federal government. Lowering the nutrition standards to cut costs would result in a low-cost diet, mostly processed foods, which are high in calories but poor in nutrients. Under the Obama-sponsored law, the Healthy Hunger-Free Act of 2010, all K to 12 students received more vegetables, fruits, whole grain rich food and fat-free milk. Fruits, vegetables and milk were standard fare. However, the Department of Agriculture under Trump argued that the Obama diet leads to high costs and food wastage so they have proposed to drop it in an announcement made on January 17, 2020, the birthday of former First Lady Michelle Obama. As First Lady, she strongly advocated the school feeding program by providing nutritious food to schoolchildren. This resulted in the enactment of the Healthy Hunger-Free Act. If it’s not a clear sabotage of Obama’s program, I don’t know what it is.
Thus, I cannot agree more with Sen. Cynthia Villar, chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, who berated the Philippine Carabao Center and the National Dairy Authority for failing in their mandate to promote dairy production in our country. Milk is considered a complete food rich in calcium, fat, protein, calories and various vitamins. Children need two to three glasses of milk servings a day, but how many Filipino families can provide a glass of milk daily to their kids? There is a correlation between proper nutrition and good health to school performance of schoolchildren. A malnourished child cannot be expected to perform well in school. This is the rationale behind Sen. Grace Poe’s efforts to have the National Feeding Program enacted into law a couple of years ago. I recall that Poe sincerely appreciated PRRD’s approval of the law, which she described as “an acknowledgment of the stark reality that adequate food and good nutrition are paramount to a child’s ability to grow healthy and to succeed academically. When we feed them well, we don’t only nourish the young body, but the mind, as well.” Milk feeding program is the third component of the school-based feeding program. The fortified meals and cycle menu include fresh milk, as well as fresh milk-based food products that the Department of Agriculture, the Philippine Carabao Center and the Cooperative Development Authority were tasked to promote.
The law that provides free and nutritious food for children aims to give relief to poor families suffering from the impact of high prices of food and milk. Unfortunately, the cost of a liter of carabao milk produced by local dairy farms is more expensive than the imported milk from Australia, New Zealand, Germany and other countries. No wonder, Villar erupted during the last budget hearing.
Meanwhile, more than 50 liters of breast milk were donated by nursing mothers from Taguig and Pateros through the office of Sen. Pia Cayetano and the City of Taguig to the Batangas Medical Center to feed the babies affected by the recent Taal Volcano eruption. The medical center maintains a milk bank that can store and preserve breast milk for eventual distribution to babies staying in the various evacuation centers. During times of stress, lactating mothers cannot produce enough milk to feed their babies. Aren’t we lucky we have mothers in the Senate? Mabuhay kayo Sens. Cynthia, Grace and Pia.