We are experiencing a food emergency with hunger in the Philippines categorized as a “serious problem” in the 2015 Global Hunger Index. In the past 15 years (1999-2014), the number of Filipino families who rated themselves as hungry rose from 8.3% to 18.3% based on the Social Weather Station’s (SWS) self-rated hunger survey. The SWS survey also revealed that 13.4% of families suffer from involuntary hunger in 2015. The victims of hunger are mainly children and women with where 20% of children below 5 years old are underweight, 30% are underheight, and 8% are wasted; while 31% of adults 20 years old and above are overweight or obese mainly due to increasing consumption of unhealthy food. There is minimal support for building on-farm biodiversity and promoting access to diverse diets to address nutrition security and build farm resilience against the impacts of climate change. Our farms, especially those under industrial production, depletes our soils and poisons our water and air with extensive use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Ironically endangering the very environment that supports food production. Our trade rules and incentive measures favor more corporate food production, whereas more than 80% of our food is still produced by small holder Filipino farmers, who remain poor, hungry and malnourished. 

While the Philippine Constitution and laws is replete with provisions on food security, there is an urgent need for greater coherence, convergence and synergy on the various programs of government on food which are presently governed under different departments and agencies. Our Constitution explicitly statesd that the State shall defend the right of children to assistance, including proper care and nutrition.