By: Wenilyn Sabalo - Multimedia Reporter - CDN DigitalSchoolchildren help themselves to fortified with malunggay and iodized salt during a feeding program in this 2020 photo of a school in Metro Manila. | Inquirer file photo
Buwad or salted dried fish, ginamos and noodles are usally the go to food fare for families struggling to make ends meet. | CDN FILE PHOTO Usahay makapalit og manok kung makatrabaho siya, baboy ana…pero og wala sad, buwad ug ginamos. Ningkamot lang mi makakaon kaon katulo sa usa ka adlaw. [Akong mga bata] walay vitamins-vitamins, mag utan ra.In the case of Hanzel, 38, buying noodles, dried fish, and “ginamos” could save them days from hunger rather than buying fruits and meat.
The proportion of poor families was recorded at 13.2 percent in 2021 compared to the 12.1 percent in 2018. Mission, quoting a study, said that Filipinos, due to poverty, tend to misallocate food spending and that more is spent on starchy staples, meat, fish. And nuts than the dietary recommendation.Yet, as data have shown, most Filipinos cannot afford the cost of a nutritious diet.
Struggling families like that of Hanzel’s family find it difficult to consistently have vegetables on the table for their food especially since they could hardly afford to buy them. | Niña Mae OliverioHanzel admitted that feeding programs in school was an advantage for her eight-year-old son, but her son was already excluded from the feeding program after finishing Grade One.