{"id":1129,"date":"2016-10-05T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-10-04T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/master.k8s.p4.greenpeace.org\/philippines\/press\/1129\/groups-remind-duterte-address-food-crisis-before-first-100-days-of-presidency-ends\/"},"modified":"2019-11-06T17:05:03","modified_gmt":"2019-11-06T09:05:03","slug":"groups-remind-duterte-address-food-crisis-before-first-100-days-of-presidency-ends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/philippines\/press\/1129\/groups-remind-duterte-address-food-crisis-before-first-100-days-of-presidency-ends\/","title":{"rendered":"Groups remind Duterte: Address food crisis before first 100 days of presidency ends"},"content":{"rendered":"
Quezon City \u2013 Environmental advocates and civil society groups gathered today to remind President Rodrigo Duterte to fulfill the promises he made to farmers and fisherfolk during the elections season and expressed urgency over the lack of an integrated framework to address poverty and hunger in the country, even as the President\u2019s first one hundred days in office has almost ended.<\/div>\n
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The Green Thumb Coalition\u2013the widest network of environmental groups in the Philippines\u2013reiterated the need for President Duterte to focus his efforts on rehabilitating the food system, which is greatly dependent on the health of the environment.<\/p>\n

Virginia Benosa-Llorin, Greenpeace Philippines\u2019 Food and Ecological Agriculture Campaigner, noted that the country\u2019s failing food system has created a double burden of malnutrition, with 20% of Filipino children below 5 years old, underweight and with 31% of Filipinos aged 20 and above suffering from overweight and obesity [1].<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Philippines\u2019 broken food system is failing the Filipinos; our current agriculture and fisheries systems fall short in responding to the country\u2019s food and nutritional needs. We call on the Duterte government to adopt a People\u2019s Food policy \u2013 we need a holistic policy framework that links food and agriculture with ecological public health, nutrition and environment security,\u201d said Llorin.<\/p>\n

Iza Gonzales, National Coordinator of National Movement for Food Sovereignty (NMFS), welcomes the call of President Duterte for a foreign policy independent from the control of transnational and multi-national corporations, as well as financial institutions, but added that more should be done.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Duterte government must break away from all the unequal trade agreements his predecessors entered into. Since he assumed presidency, there hasn\u2019t been any written policy about this; only mere pronouncements,\u201d Gonzales said.<\/p>\n

The NMFS also welcomes the administration\u2019s policy on rice and self-sufficiency, but criticizes the importation of\u00a0basic food commodities, which is pushing our\u00a0small food producers into further impoverishment.<\/p>\n

Gonzales adds, \u201cWe were also looking forward to the President\u2019s campaign promise for free irrigation services. Yet, until now, we haven\u2019t seen any massive irrigation program that will truly help alleviate the poor conditions of farmers.\u201d<\/p>\n

NGOs for Fisheries Reform (NFR) believes that the programs the government has carried out thus far to help Filipino fisherfolk prove to be inadequate.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe current administration still lacks a coherent solution to address the complex problem of fishers such as eco-systems degradation and overfishing,\u201d said Mayette Rodriguez of NFR. \u201cWe strongly feel that the current program of dispersing\u00a0boats to different communities is misplaced as this contributes to further overfishing and will push people to spend more in running after disappearing fish.\u201d<\/p>\n

Norie Garcia,\u00a0Advocacy and Partnership Director of\u00a0ABSCBN Lingkod Kapamilya Foundation, said that agriculture and food security are primary considerations behind the environmental advocacy of the Green Thumb Coalition. \u201cThis is the reason why we support policies that will protect our ecosystems and promote the sustainable use of our natural resources. We also want to reinforce the initiatives of the government to review and audit the extractive industries and other industries with adverse environmental impacts. We are waiting for integrated and coherent policies and programs that will address the root causes and not just the symptoms of food insecurity,\u201d Garcia said.<\/p>\n

Notes to the Editors:<\/strong><\/p>\n

[1] Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism. PH Paradox: Undernourished children, overnourished adults. http:\/\/pcij.org\/blog\/2015\/08\/10\/ph-paradox-undernourished-children-overnourished-adults<\/p>\n

For more information, please contact:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Virginia Benosa-Llorin, Food and Ecological Agriculture Campaigner
\nGreenpeace Southeast Asia \u2013 Philippines
\n+63 917 822 8793 | virginia.benosa-llorin@greenpeace.org<\/a>