Our demographic time bomb
For about a year now, I have ended almost every talk and economic briefing I’ve given by sounding the alarm on the silent crisis facing our country in the next 30 years. I refer to the problem that...
View ArticleCash in overdue peace dividends
A couple of decades ago the wall that was on everybody’s mind was in Berlin. Then it came crashing down, pushed over by a wave of reform and renewal that seemed to promise the dawn of a new era for our...
View ArticleOur hungry and stunted children
Jonathan Oya has become the face of hunger and child malnutrition in the country. The post Our hungry and stunted children appeared first on Inquirer Opinion.
View ArticleAre you malnourished? Quite possibly
The word “malnutrition” tends to invoke images of starving children in refugee camps, fleeing conflict or drought in lands far away. While that image does reflect a reality of hunger, it does not...
View ArticleMalnutrition’s menace
A recently released Unicef global report, “The State of the World’s Children 2019: Children, Food and Nutrition,” presents an up-to-date picture of the state of children’s malnutrition around the...
View ArticleWithered hopes
“Shriveling from hunger is not the stuff of headlines,” Viewpoint noted three years back (Inquirer, 11/6/09). “Morning headlines and evening newscasts are wedged between political pap and crime.” The...
View ArticlePebbles and diamonds
“This is a real treasure,” Northwestern University’s Christopher Kuzawa told the Inquirer. The anthropologist meant a research project that tracked 3,327 Filipinas and their 3,080 children in 33 Metro...
View ArticleMilk and malnutrition after ‘Sendong’
More than 40 days after the onslaught of floods brought on by Tropical Storm “Sendong,” there are good news and bad news. The post Milk and malnutrition after ‘Sendong’ appeared first on Inquirer...
View ArticleMoral of the story
As I write this, Chief Justice Renato Corona is still sharing his testimony with the impeachment court, attempting to explain the sources of his wealth and—most riveting so far—the background of the...
View Article‘Faces not forgotten’
STORIES ON All Souls Day trash and cleanup clog the papers and newscasts today. Scandal follows. Imelda and Ferdinand Marcos Jr. brazen out the US Court of Appeals’ $363.6-million judgment for...
View ArticleErrors in malnutrition article clarified by ACF
THANKS FOR the great article “SAM, hunger food alone can’t cure” (Inquirer, 10/21/12) written by Germelina Lacorte. It’s very difficult to get not only our work but also our message across—to raise...
View ArticleFlour ‘dumping’
Local flour millers are raising their voices against imported Turkish flour, which they claim is being “dumped” in the country. The post Flour ‘dumping’ appeared first on Inquirer Opinion.
View ArticleThe faces of poverty
Poverty is a state of deprivation, a heightened demand for the satisfaction of basic wants. We see poverty in a malnourished child with a blank stare, in a congested slum bereft of sanitation and...
View ArticleNo one cared enough
I was so stunned by Senator Grace Poe giving a privileged speech about the hunger and malnutrition stalking 15 million children in the Philippines. Privileged speeches are nothing new. Nor is the...
View ArticleFAO clarifies malnutrition data
Sen. Grace Poe, in her privilege speech before the Senate, was reported to have mentioned the Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) estimate of 15 million malnourished children in the Philippines...
View ArticleStunted kids
Genetics determines height to a large extent, but not stunting. Stunting occurs during the first three years of life, and child health experts have traditionally blamed this on poor maternal nutrition...
View ArticleLaughing at love letters
We may be sitting in the same classrooms every day, reading the same books, listening to the same teachers, but some of us will go home only half-filled, and it may not entirely be their fault. The...
View ArticleSizing up the ‘short’ Pinoys
Did you know that Filipino “shortness” is not a racial or a genetic trait? It is true. Filipinos are short because of the impact of poverty and malnutrition on generations of Filipino children....
View ArticleThe boiling frog
Here’s a classic fable. When you put a frog in boiling water, it jumps out immediately to save its life. But put it in tepid water, slowly turn up the heat and it will cook to death. The Philippine...
View ArticleNo Filipino should go hungry
Hunger and malnutrition remain a problem especially among poor Filipino households despite the increase in food supply in the markets. A government-led study attributed this to the high cost of food...
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