ON her first official working day, Senator Grace Poe today reported to the Senate and fell in line to file her priority legislation centered on issues closest to her heart – poverty, the plight of coconut farmers and Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) and the film industry.
Poe, who topped the 2013 senatorial elections, joined the staff of other senators and lined up at the Legislative Bills and Index Service of the Senate to file her first four proposed legislation.
Among Poe’s priority measure include the institutionalization of a free Nutri-Meals program for school children in all public elementary and high schools, to be called the ‘Sustansiya sa Batang Pilipino’ program.
“Hunger and malnutrition must be addressed, especially among children, now!” Poe stressed, noting that hunger and malnutrition have been identified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as the world’s greatest threats to public health.
She noted estimates from the United Nations (UN) that six million Filipino children are malnourished and around 66 % under the age of six do not have childcare. The figures are backed by a survey of the Social Weather Station (SWS) made during the Third Quarter of 2012 citing that 21 % or at least 4.3 million households experienced having nothing to eat in the last three months prior to the survey period.
The Department of Education has likewise disclosed that 562,262 pupils in kindergarten and elementary levels enrolled in public schools this year have been considered “severely wasted” based on nutritional status as of August 31, 2012.
“Priority must be accorded to getting quality nutrition to prevent malnutrition to co-exist with diseases,” Poe said in pushing for the “Sustansiya sa Batang Pilipino” program, which would initially give free nutri-meals to pupils in the Kindergarten and Grades 1-6 levels, following the K-12 policy. Students up to the Junior High School level of the K-12 policy would be included in the coverage of the Program in its third year of implementation. By its fifth year, all elementary and high school levels in the K-12 public education sector would already be covered.
“We would like to also encourage the private sector support to participate in the program. It can be done through their respective Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities or through simple donations to public schools,” Poe said.
Poe also proposed the focused promotion and marketing worldwide of a Film Tourism in the Philippines, pointing out that “Philippine tourism could get a bigger boost through Film Tourism.”
“Film Tourism is a growing phenomenon worldwide, fueled by both the growth of the entertainment industry and the increase in international travel. Several countries have already capitalized on the spiraling phenomenon of film tourism,” Poe explained.
She recalled that, “in the past years, several foreign films have been shot in different places in the country, but little effort, or none at all, was done to capitalize on the growing phenomenon to boost tourism and increase economic activity in those places.”
She noted that in 2008, Caramoan Islands in Camarines Sur was the location for the ‘Survivor’ French edition, followed by the Israel, Bulgaria and Serbia editions in 2009. The Sweden edition was shot in the same island in 2010, followed in 2011 by the Denmark, Norway, Belgium and India franchises. In 2012, the film “Bourne Supremacy” shot its latest series in the busy streets of Manila and in the beautiful beaches of Palawan.
Just last month, film director Maryo J. Delos Reyes started filming “The Bamboo Flower” to showcase various places in Bohol as part of an effort to promote film tourism. The project has secured a grant from the Film Development Council of the Philippines.
“Evidently, there is a need for government support to ultimately present various destinations in the Philippines as prime tourist spots. Through Film Tourism, tourist arrivals could exceed official targets,” Poe said, citing figures from the Department of Tourism –4.27 million tourist arrivals in 2012 (compared with 3.92 million in 2011), and 1.27 million tourists booked in the first quarter of 2013.
Also among her priorities, Poe has filed a Resolution seeking a review of, in aid of legislation, the government’s policies and programs on our Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), especially in the light of recent events that have adversely affected the conditions of our Filipino workers abroad.
Poe stressed that “there is a need to re-examine the programs and various projects and interventions of the government on the issues confronted by overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), including the direction that our embassies and consulates must adopt towards a friendlier approach.”
“We should also look at the feasibility of engaging in bilateral agreements with host countries, with the intention of providing more protective and favorable treatment of our Kababayans,” she added.
Of late, overseas Filipino workers have been hogging the headlines due to a number of controversies, among them and the hottest is the alleged “sex for fly” schemes in various Middle East countries reportedly pulled off by labor officers and foreign affairs personnel.
There have also been reports of bullying, harassment and job displacements of Filipino workers in Taiwan as an off-shoot of the shooting incident involving a Taiwanese fisherman in Philippine waters and the reported increase in Filipinos serving as drug mules for international drug syndicates, leading to the rising number of OFWs in death row.
Poe also noted the perennial problems of illegal recruitments, spiraling number of undocumented OFWs, the problem of repatriation, the high cost of documentations/requirements needed by an OFW, the absence of legal assistance to distressed migrant workers, the lack of opportunities in the country, the high statistics of exploitation of women OFWs, among others, as barriers.
On top of the labor policies for OFWs, Poe said the government should likewise embark on a financial literacy program to assist migrant workers and their families for wise and proper management of their monies and savings.
Last among her priority measures is a Resolution urging the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Food to conduct an inquiry, in aid of legislation, into the plight of Filipino coconut farmers, taking into consideration the reported outbreak of scale insects in Calabarzon, the recurring problem of pestilence and the stresses of weather destroying coco farms with the intention of protecting the coconut industry and its farmers.
One-third of the country’s arable agricultural land or about 3.31 million hectares is planted to coconut sprawling in sixty four (64) out of total seventy eight (78) provinces, and 1,195 out of the 1,554 municipalities in the country. At present, there are 320 million coconut trees, of which 44.8 Million coconut trees are classified as old and senile, according to the Philippine Coconut Authority.
An estimated 24 million Filipinos or one-third of the Philippine population directly or indirectly benefit from the coconut industry. Government figures cite that there are 1.5 million coconut farmers and farm workers. The Philippines is a major producer of coconut oil, copra meal, desiccated coconut, coco shell charcoal, activated carbon and coco chemicals.
“The coconut industry impacts hugely on the Philippine economy. There is a need for the Senate to assess the state of this vital industry, taking into account the aging and dying of millions of coconut trees,” Poe said in stressing the importance of protecting the industry, which plays an important role in nation-building being one the principal industries and one of the largest income-earners of the country.
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