CONGRESS has allocated up to P17 billion this year to fund vital school- and community-based feeding programs aimed at combating child hunger and boosting school attendance, Quezon City Rep. Marvin Rillo, a member of the House committee on appropriations, announced on Sunday.
Of the total funding, Rillo said P11.8 billion is set aside for the School-Based Feeding Program (SBFP) under the Department of Education (DepEd), while P5.2 billion will support the Supplementary Feeding Program (SFP) of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
“These feeding programs are a lifeline for children who go to bed hungry. Access to nutritious meals can mean the difference between staying in school or dropping out for many of these children,” Rillo said.
The announcement comes amid troubling findings from a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey conducted March 15 to 20, which showed that 27.2 percent of Filipino families – equivalent to roughly 7.5 million households – experienced involuntary hunger, or having nothing to eat at least once in the past three months.
“We are counting on the feeding programs not only to ease child hunger and malnutrition, but also to keep vulnerable learners in school,” Rillo said.
“These are critical investments in the health, development, and education of our nation’s children. They not only nourish young minds and bodies but also help lift families out of the cycle of poverty,” Rillo added.
The SBFP targets incoming kindergarten to grade six pupils who are classified as wasted, severely wasted, stunted, or severely stunted. The program provides them with nutritious food products through daily rationing during the school year.
Meanwhile, the SFP supports undernourished children aged three to five enrolled in child development centers run by local governments, as well as those aged two to four in supervised neighborhood play groups. The program offers fortified meals – including milk, vitamin-enriched bread such as nutribun, and ready-to-eat food – five days a week for 120 days.
In Quezon City’s Fourth District, Rillo has been actively distributing free school supplies to public elementary and high school students.
“By providing children with free uniforms, bags, and shoes, we are fostering classrooms where everyone feels valued and dignified,” Rillo said.
A staunch advocate for greater access to education, Rillo also authored Republic Act No. 11984, which prohibits the “no permit, no exam” policy in all schools.
The law guarantees that students can take periodic and final examinations even if they have outstanding tuition or other fees.
Meanwhile, the DepEd has announced that the school year 2025–2026 will officially begin on June 16, 2025, and end on March 31, 2026.
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