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Sponsorship Speech on the First 1000 Days Bill

Senate President Pro-Tempore Ralph G. Recto
07 August 2017

It has been said that politicians love to kiss babies when

they run for office. But kiss them goodbye the moment
theyre elected.

If babies only know how to throw tantrums through tweets,

or if they could bawl out in social media, their shout-outs
would be hard to ignore.

Unfortunately, they dont have the muscle of the unions

and the money of business to lobby their cause.

So it behooves us, we who are in power, to articulate the

plight of those without voices, and argue the case of those
who are powerless.

We do that, my dear colleagues, not just for all their

sakes, but for ours, too.

For isnt it true, Mr. President, that it is in how we treat our

young that we are measured? And that how we care for
those in the dawn of life that we are weighed?

Through the ages, childrens welfare has been the best

measure of how great a society is. The good things we
shower our children measure how good we govern.

Sadly, the state of our children tells us the work to be

done before we can begin telling ourselves that we have
done half a good job.
And nowhere is this more evident than in the malnutrition
that haunts our young.

For Filipino children under the age of five:

1 in 4 is underweight. In absolute numbers: 2.68 million, or

equivalent to the population of Batangas.

3 in 10 are stunted. And you want to know how many they

are? 4.081 million, or the population of the cities of Manila,
Marikina, Caloocan and Navotas combined.

1 in 12 is wasted. Which translates to 1.064 million kids

who are underweight for their height. If they were a
province, they can qualify for 4 congressional district
seats. And if they were a party list, they will have to fill a
venue 65 times the size of Araneta Coliseum should they
hold in one place the convention to choose their
nominees.

In all, there are 7.8 million undernourished kids five years

old and below. If we raise the age covered to 10, the
number shoots up to 18 million.

18 million is the population of six regions put together:

Cordillera, Cagayan Valley, Mimaropa, Zamboanga
Peninsula, ARMM, and Caraga. It is a number bigger than
the population of Metro Manila.

This ranks us 9th in the world in stunted growth among

children.

For most of the children, the bad effects of undernutrition

are long-lasting, if not life-long. But to many, the effects
are immediately fatal.
Close to 35,000 Filipino children die per year due to
undernutrition.

On a daily basis, thats 95 victims felled by the lack of

food.

Thats an annual casualty rate higher than whatever the

final death toll of the Marawi crisis will be. This man-made
calamity causes more deaths yearly than the most
powerful typhoon in history Yolanda.

Gutom, my friends, is the real grim reaper, with far more

kills that it reduces Tokhang to a bumbling understudy.

What gutom cannot kill, it disables, reducing its victims

capacity to learn, to work, and to be healthy.

We dont have to cite studies for us to conclude that

malnutrition leads to low education. Once the stomach is
empty, the head follows. For the student to absorb
learning, his body must first absorb nutrients.

It has been calculated that 15 percent of school repeaters

are those who have poor access to food. Being
underweight on the scales leads to underperformance in
school.

These poor learners would later form the pool of poorly

trained workers. The link is clear: Childhood stunting
stunts income opportunities later in life. There is a
correlation between thin bodies and lean paychecks.

Mr. President:
Studies upon studies have concluded that child and
maternal health and nutrition are the best predictors for
human capital.

Thus, critical care is crucial in the first 1,000 days of a

childs life. What the child would later become in life is
shaped by the first 1000 days of the childs life.

And that care begins in the mothers womb. If the mother

lacks nutrients, so will her baby. The race to a good life
has its starting block in the 270 days before birth.

The next phase is the birth to six months. And the last is
from six months to two years.

There are needs that must be given in each of the phases.

For example, prenatal care and proper nutrition for the
mother during her pregnancy. Vaccination and a breast
milk regimen, to cite a few, for the baby from birth to six
months. And the right food from six months to two years to
guarantee brain development. The last one is important.

If these are given, a child has a ten times better chance in

beating life-threatening diseases, the child would have 50
percent more earning power as an adult, and is more
likely to complete 5 more years of schooling.

In other words, the child would be able to blow the candles

on his or her cake for his or her second birthday, and
during many more birthdays to come.

If denied, these would cause damage on the childs health

that is long-term and irreversible. Or worse, the only
candles that will be lit for the child are the ones for his or
her funeral.
Mr. President:

The delivery of these is what this bill mandates. We have

to charter these deliverables so they will form a First
1,000 Days of Life instruction manual that all
administrations from hereon must follow.

In short, this law for a healthy childhood is, to a large

extent, the magna carta for a better life.

Mr. President:

Sure, this bill will entail costs. Even daycare feeding is

covered by the there-is-no-free-lunch doctrine. But the
benefit, I assure you, is far greater than the cost.

Yes, there are many things that we should scrimp on, but
our childrens health and schooling are the last things that
we should economize. If were lax in tallying the bombs
dropped, then let us not be paralyzed into inaction by
bean-counting the meals we should serve hungry kids.

For next year, Mr. President, whether this bill gets enacted
or not, let us summon all our will and all our wisdom in
finding funds for the childrens nutrition program.

I know that were ramping up funding for education. But let

us not forget that the work to meet the childrens hunger
for knowledge, to be effective, must go with programs to
end their hunger for food.

1,000 days is the term of this Congress. During this

period, we can refuse, or fail, or delay the passage of
many of the bills before us, and the damage it would
cause is survivable.
But if we fail to pass this bill on the First 1,000 Days, the
harm to our children will be great. If we fail, it will be our
turn to be weighed by them.

At sasabihin ng mga batang hindi sapat ang

timbang: Tinimbang po namin kayo, at ang laki ng inyong
pagkukulang.

Thus, I urge that we pass this bill without delay. Para sa

kabataan, at para sa kinabukasan.

Maraming salamat po.