80% of Filipinos spend P8 per meal, per day - NSO survey reports

The financial crisis has aggravated the poverty in the Philippines so much that most Filipinos can spend less than ten pesos for each member of the family for a meal these days.

According to the July 2008 Family Income Expenditure Survey conducted by the National Statistics Office (NSO), 80 percent of Filipino families, consisting of an average of five members, spend only P40 per meal per day.

To address the problem of hunger and to curtail food wastage Senator Richard J. Gordon (Ind.) filed Senate Bill 150 or the Food Donation Act of 2009.

The bill, which has been approved on second reading on June 2, is not intended as a dole out but to help Filipinos who are below the food or subsistence threshold that has reached more than sixteen million in 2000.

"A lot of people, a good portion, in our country go to bed hungry because they cannot afford to buy food. There is food insecurity. And therefore, we want to reach out to those who don't have the capability to feed themselves," the senator said.

"Through this bill, we can teach the poor to create food opportunities for themselves. The object of this bill is to try and breach those gaps, hunger, satisfy hunger. At the same time, satisfy the need for self-capability so they are able to feed themselves and therefore get back his dignity," he said.

At the same time, large amounts of untouched food that are still fit for human consumption are thrown out everyday by hotels, restaurants, fast food chains, supermarkets, and even in parties like weddings, birthdays and fiestas.

An earlier survey conducted by the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) in June 2006, also showed that approximately 24 out of 100 Filipino families did not earn enough in 2003 to satisfy their basic food and non-food requirements.

Hunger has turned into an enormous problem in the country that Bicolano film maker and award-winning composer Ferdinand Dimadura was stirred into making a short film about the issue.

The film, entitled "Chicken Ala Carte" which depicted how people often forget the effects of hunger on the poor. It highlighted those who live on refuse and waste of others. The film won the Most Popular Short Film at the 56th Berlin International Film Festival in 2006.

Gordon, explained that under his proposed law, that a central agency, such as the Department of Social Welfare and Development, will be designated to collect surplus food from hotels, fast food chains, restaurants, supermarkets and parties.

He added that only surplus and not left over food would be collected; adding that milk products could not be included also since they have a short shelf life.

The senator also explained that the PNRC and accredited non-government organizations that are already in similar advocacies can repack the collected food and distribute them to Filipinos who cannot afford to feed themselves and to victims of typhoons and other calamities.