PRESIDENTIAL aspirant Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr. and his running mate, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio, vowed to address malnutrition if they win in the elections next year.

They acknowledged that malnutrition has always been a serious problem in the country.

The Philippines is the fifth country in East Asia and the Pacific with the most number of child stunting and is among the top 10 countries in the world with stunted children.

“Talaga namang malaking hamon ang malnutrition sa lahat ng dumaang administrasyon, hindi tayo nawawala sa pandaigdigang listahan kapag pinag-uusapan ang ganitong problema, kaya naman dapat talagang paigtingin ng ating gobyerno ang kampanya laban dito pero syempre dapat solusyonan din natin ang lumalalang problema ng kahirapan sa ating bansa na nagiging puno’t dulo ng kagutuman,” the BBM-Sara UniTeam said.

Both candidates said that malnutrition is a “consequence of persistent hunger, and hunger a consequence of extreme poverty.”

They said that the problem worsened because of the pandemic.

According to a Social Weather Stations survey conducted in September 2020, after seven months of community quarantine, 31 percent of households experienced hunger in the previous 30 days, and 9 percent experienced severe hunger, the highest levels in more than 20 years.

“Ngayon, mas lumala pa ‘yung problema natin, dahil nga dito sa Covid19 pandemic, marami ang nawalan ng trabaho, ng pagkakakitaan, kaya mas marami ang nakararanas ng gutom, pasalamat tayo kahit papaano dahil sa ngayon unti-unti nang bumabangon at gumagalaw ang ating ekonomiya,” the duo said.

“Kapag tuluyan nang nagbukas ang ating ekonomiya, ang iisipin agad natin ay ‘yung trabaho, ‘yung pagkakakitaan ng mga tao, gawa tayo ng mas maraming trabaho, kasi ang puno’t dulo ng lahat ng ito, ng malnutrisyon ay kahirapan, ang pinakaapektado pa naman dito ay ‘yung mga kabataan, mga estudyante,” they added.