THE National Nutrition Council (NNC) must reassess its performance targets and focus on measurable improvements in child nutrition, rather than relying heavily on compliance indicators, Senate President and Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2) Commissioner Sherwin Gatchalian said Friday.
During the Senate Committee on Finance hearing on the NNC’s proposed 2027 budget, Gatchalian questioned the agency’s targets under the 2027 National Expenditure Program (NEP), particularly amid the continuing increase in childhood stunting.
Gatchalian cited EDCOM 2 data showing that 96 percent of local government units had achieved a score of at least 85 percent under the Seal of Quality Nutrition Program. He said the figure appeared inconsistent with the country’s continuing struggle with child malnutrition.
“If we have two million malnourished children, our LGUs should also be pushing themselves to achieve better scores,” Gatchalian said, urging the NNC to review its targets and make them more realistic.
Under the 2027 NEP, the NNC set a target of only 20 percent of LGUs meeting the minimum score under the Seal of Quality Nutrition Program. However, the agency reported a 96.16-percent compliance rate—nearly five times its target—even as the national prevalence of stunting has worsened.
EDCOM 2 Executive Director Karol Mark Yee earlier raised a similar concern, saying government performance indicators should reflect the actual problems that agencies are mandated and funded to address.
“This presents a conflicting picture: of an agency seemingly overachieving their original target, while in reality, stunting is worsening,” Yee said.
The concern comes amid findings from the Department of Science and Technology-Food and Nutrition Research Institute (DOST-FNRI), whose June 2025 survey showed that stunting among children under five rose to 25.3 percent from 23.6 percent in 2023.
The increase marked the first nationwide rise in the prevalence of stunting in more than a decade.
NNC Executive Director Undersecretary Albert Domingo acknowledged the criticism, saying the existing indicator largely measures processes rather than actual outcomes.
According to Domingo, the current system tends to measure inputs such as plans and documentation, rather than what is actually observed in communities.
Both EDCOM 2 and the NNC agreed that reducing stunting should become the primary measure of the government’s nutrition efforts, rather than simply documenting compliance with program requirements.
Yee also pointed to a significant discrepancy between two government nutrition monitoring systems. The NNC’s Operation Timbang Plus (OPT Plus) reportedly placed the 2025 stunting rate at around 5 percent, while the DOST-FNRI’s scientifically sampled national survey recorded a 25.3-percent prevalence among children under five.
Yee said both systems have value but stressed that the roughly fivefold difference must be explained, particularly because nutrition data directly influence government planning, targeting and allocation of resources.
“The government must clarify who was counted, who was missed, and which figure actually governs planning and accountability,” Yee said.
EDCOM 2 has repeatedly warned that stunting during early childhood can cause long-term and potentially irreversible cognitive and physical consequences, putting children at a disadvantage even before they enter school.
Gatchalian underscored the urgency of addressing malnutrition during the earliest years of a child’s development, noting that the consequences may become irreversible once children reach four or five years old.
Yee, meanwhile, warned that continued dependence on paper-based compliance could result in government resources being directed toward the size and documentation of programs rather than the scale of the actual problem.
“Performance indicators can reward agencies for counting what’s convenient rather than for changing the conditions they exist to address,” Yee said.
He added that improving the indicator alone would not necessarily improve the condition of Filipino children.
For EDCOM 2, the growing stunting rate underscores the need for the government to ensure that its budget targets, performance measures and nutrition programs are tied directly to outcomes that matter—particularly whether fewer Filipino children are suffering from chronic malnutrition.
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