Hunger holidays

By Ma. Therese Taghap

 

(The author is a Communication and Media Studies student from the University of the Philippines Visayas)

Years before the COVID-19 pandemic butted in, I used to join outreach programs that were organized by my school one week before Christmas Day. Our purpose is to feed the children coming from remote areas and give them the supplies that they need at home and at school. After seeing the situation of each struggling child from poverty, I always had the feeling of wanting to abstain from my family’s upcoming Noche Buenas.

3.9 million Filipino families experienced “moderate” hunger, while an estimated 1.3 million families had to endure “severe” hunger. The main cause of hunger is poverty that results from a lack of jobs or low-paying jobs.

With the onset of the severe health crisis that caused the national and local economy to recede, these rates rapidly rocket.

Among those who will celebrate holidays with empty stomachs are farmers who were greatly affected by the typhoon Ulysses and buried in the soiled system of capitalism. These people, who ensure that every family has food on their table, struggle to feed their own families.

Hunger and malnutrition in this time of pandemic mean being vulnerable to infections and diseases. However, the government continues to neglect the sector that produces food and contributes 20% to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). On the other hand, they continue to increase the country’s dependence on agricultural products coming from foreign countries and burden the local farmers with retaliatory tariffs.

The most important thing that outreach programs have taught me is to become responsible for the community. Regardless of our classes, all of us should come together to help eradicate hunger through food donations or buying local without being opportunistic and defend the sectors that have been taken advantage of by the capitalist system.

Freedom from hunger is a right to every Filipinos. With the HB 5279, or Providing Framework for the Right to Adequate Food and Other Purposes, that is hoped to be passed before the year ends, and the union of Filipino Food Companies for Brand Aid: Noche Buena para sa lahat, I am very much hoping that no family this Christmas will have a hunger holiday.