Transcript of Sen. Grace Poe's Speech
2nd Philippine Environment Summit
Waterfront Hotel, Cebu
Feb. 22, 2018

Magandang umaga. Maayong buntag sa inyong tanan.

You and I know that there is a correlation between the environment and nutrition.

Hunger is high where waters have been poisoned. Malnutrition is rampant where the soil is toxic. Wasted bodies are prevalent in wasted lands. When earth loses its nutrients, the people are denied theirs...

In the Philippines, a simple inspection will reveal painful ironies:

Kung sino pa ang mangingisda, sila pa ang walang pambili ng sardinas dahil walang huli sa isang karagatang plastic na lang ang lumalangoy at hindi na isda.

Kung sino pa ang nagtatanim ng palay, sila pa ang dapat mangutang upang makabili ng instant noodles sapagkat ang ani ay di sapat dahil kulang ang tubig pero sobra ang peste.

Kung sino pa ang magniniyog, sila pa ang walang pambili ng mantika na ihahalo sa toyo na ididilig sa kakarampot na kanin para makaraos man lang, dahil tinalbos na ang mga puno ng mga bagyong madalas at malakas.

And in urban areas, the contrast is more jarring, where millions go to bed, go to work, or go to school hungry.

In December last year, when the economy grew by 6.6 percent during that quarter, another report came out that the number of families who experienced hunger during the same period increased by almost 1 million, or to 3.6 million families, from the previous quarter's 2.7 million families.

As I've said before: This is a country where skinny street kids share one bowl of instant noodles under the foot of neon ads selling liposuction for the obese...

Right to Adequate Food

I believe that widespread and chronic hunger is a human rights violation. It is an affront to the principle of human dignity.

This is why I filed Senate Bill No. 1624, or the Right to Adequate Food Act. This bill establishes a legal framework for the right to food.

The right to adequate food is realized when every Filipino has equal physical and economic access at all times to adequate food, or the means for its procurement.

Adequate food is defined as the presence of food in a quantity and quality sufficient to satisfy the dietary needs of individuals, free from adverse substances, and acceptable within a given culture.

Araw-araw ang daming nabibiktima dahil sa polusyon at dahil sa maruming kapaligiran.

According to the 2015 Family Income and Expenditure Survey, the poorest 30 percent of families spend 59.7 percent of their income or more than half of what they earn, on food expenditures.

Therefore, one way to assist poor families is focus on making our supply of food more affordable, accessible and nutritional...

I'm sure naririnig ninyo ang kwento tungkol doon sa rice smuggling, so dahil nga dito sa ating bansa staple talaga ang kanin, hindi kumpleto ang ating pagkain kung walang kanin. Pero pati iyon ay sinisindikato pa, akalain mo nag-NFA rice na tayo na yung iba nagsasabi na ang pangit ng quality ng NFA, pero dahil walang choice, yung iba yun ang binibili. Pero ginagawa pa nila sa NFA rice, sinisindikato pa. Diumano, kalahati nito na inaangkat ng gobyerno, nirerepackage at binebenta as regular rice. That for me is criminal, because first of all that's already subsidized by the government, hindi nagbayad ng tamang buwis para diyan tapos ibebenta lang at ang mahihirap ay hindi nakakabili. So mali iyon, again, if you do something like that, curtail the means of the public to be able to buy affordable food, that for me is a criminal offense.

In line with this, we cannot afford to neglect the agricultural sector.

There are two main reasons why agriculture is very important. The first is reason is food security.

A famous farmer named, Brenda Schoepp once said, "My grandfather says that once in your life you need a doctor, a lawyer, a policeman and a priest, but every day, three times a day, you need a farmer." Protecting and enhancing our supply of and access to food cannot be done without addressing the challenges faced by the agriculture sector.

The second reason why agriculture is very important is poverty alleviation. About a quarter of our nation's population, or 25 million Filipinos, remain poor. Of these Filipinos, 70 percent reside in rural areas. As such, any inclusive economic program must include reforms and support to the agriculture sector.

I filed several bills supporting this sector. But allow me to expound on one of them. The "Young Farmers" bill or ang "Tulong Kabataan sa Agrikultura" Act seeks to give scholarship grants to agricultural students, provide easy credit and start-up capital for young farmers, free seedlings/farming implements, mentoring and extension services.

Ang layunin po ng Young Farmers Act ay hikayatin ang mga kabataan na pasukin ang agrikultura. Patanda na ng patanda ang mga magsasaka natin. Ayon sa isang pag-aaral, the average farmer in the country is already 57 years old. Hindi naman puwede puro call center na lang tayo...

More to the point, we need to find ways on how to increase the productivity of our farmers, so that they can grow crops and sell them at competitive rates, while still making enough profit for them to afford a decent standard of living.

Further, it is imperative for the government to continuously invest in R&D.

The fact that the Philippines is an archipelago is both a blessing and a challenge. We are blessed with beautiful islands and waters; but on the other hand the effects of climate change on coastal areas can be devastating.

We Filipinos sometimes have this knack for abusing and wasting the natural resources that God has given us. Case in point is Boracay...It's about time that we hold local government there and the business owners accountable. Kasi sayang naman ang isa sa pinakamagandang lugar sa buong mundo na tayo na mismo ang sumisira.

And this is why I filed SBN 1687 or the Sustainable Coastal Tourism Act of 2018. The bill seeks to reconcile the social and economic growth from coastal tourism with the people's right to a balanced and healthful ecology in accord with the rhythm and harmony of nature...

School Feeding

Many of the children they teach are either too short or stunted; too light in weight, undernourished or what they call wasted. Tinimbang sila, at marami ang kulang.

How many are they as of the latest count? Let me give you the numbers on undernourished children under 5 years old: 2.7 million are underweight; 4.08 million are short for their age or stunted; 1.06 million are wasted meaning buto't balat; for a grand total of 7.8 million undernourished Filipino kids, ganyan karami ang mga bata sa ating bansa na kulang sa timbang, payat, malnourished...

Well, I am happy to inform you that Senate Bill 1279, or the Masustansyang Pagkain Para sa Batang Pilipino Act was finally passed by the Senate and the House of Representatives.

When passed into law, it will institutionalize a program that provides for one healthy meal a day for every undernourished child, for at least 120 days a year...It's a very expensive program, pero kung tayo ay kayang gumasta ng bilyun-bilyon para sa mga kalsada at imprastraktura, siguro naman hindi natin panghihinayangan ang pagkakagastahan natin na diretso sa tiyan ng ating mga anak...

Isa sa mga panukala ko bilang chairman ng public services ay dapat magkaroon ng mass transport system dito sa Cebu, sabi ko dapat kung magkakaroon tayo ng subway system sa Metro Manila, isa rin iyan sa panukala na dapat mayroon din dito sa Metro Cebu dahil marami din dito ang nagtatrabaho at kailangan ding makauwi sa tamang oras sa kanilang mga mahal sa buhay, hindi lamang sa Metro Manila ang problema sa transportasyon, kaya ako'y magkakaroon din ng hearing dito para sa problema sa jeep, problema sa Uber at lahat ng iba-iba pang iyan.

Alam ko rin na sa ngayon, medyo hati ang ating bansa. Marami sa atin ay nagiisip na masaya tayo dahil lahat ng mga pagbabago na gusto natin, unti-unting nangyayari pero may mga bagay rin na nagdadalawang-isip tayo. Ang importante isipin natin kung ano ang makakabuti para sa mas nakararami. Higit sa lahat importante rin ang paggalang sa isa't-isa, importante rin na ipinaglalaban natin ang karapatan ng bawat indibidwal. Ang karapatan na wag matakot kung wala tayong ginagawang masama. Ang karapatan din na maghayag, pero responsableng pamamahayag.

Kaya nga yung pinakamagulong hearing sa Senado, yung fake news, naku tuwing nagfe-fake news hearing ako, ako mismo nabibiktima ng fake news pagkatapos. Ang isa diyan na nais kong gamitin itong pagkakataon na ito na klaruhin, hindi ko po pinapatanggal ang Facebook, hindi po totoo iyon. Tinatanong lang natin sa Facebook, at sila ay dadalo sa ating pagdinig, kung papaano natin mamomonitor yung mga balita na hindi totoo para hindi naman tayo nabibiktima nito.

Mismo ang ating Pangulo ay nagreklamo rin dahil siya rin ay biktima nito, bawat kampo, pula man dilaw o anumang kulay mo, biktima din nito. Kaya importante sa mga estudyante natin, pag may nakita kayo sa Facebook, manood din kayo ng balita to verify. Kung doon lang lumabas sa iilang sites, and it seems unbelievable, most likely it is. So check your sources, that's our best defense kasi hindi naman pwedeng palagi tayong gagawa ng batas. Kasi kung gawa tayo ng gawa ng batas minsan ang atin mismong karapatan ay natatapakan din, kaya dapat ay nagiingat at palaging balanse.

Maraming maraming salamat sa inyong pagimbita ngayong umaga. Daghang salamat po.