SENATOR  Alan Peter Cayetano called for the creation of an Anti-Stunting Action Plan (ASAP) during the Senate deliberations on the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) budget.

Cayetano cited findings from the Commission’s Year One Report, emphasizing the importance of covering nutrition in the first 1,000 days of a child’s life.

“Basically, pagdating nila sa Grade 1, medyo malala na ‘yung problema. Although there’s a need for better coordination between government agencies regarding feeding, the bigger problem occurs from 0-2 years old,” he said.

He added, “Children aged 6-11 months have a stunting prevalence of 12.8%. But at 1-2 years old, it rises to 30.2%—almost doubling. The point I’m making is…can we address stunting? This is irreversible. Once it happens, there’s no rewind.”

Cayetano stressed that the ASAP is necessary to effectively tackle stunting among Filipino children.

The DSWD, through budget sponsor Senator Pia Cayetano, explained that one of the current interventions is an increased allocation for supplemental feeding—from P17 to P25 per meal.

Senator Pia Cayetano also noted that while the original proposed budget covered 120 days of feeding, the Senate version extended it by an additional 60 days, reaching a total of 180 days.