Department of Education Secretary Jesli Lapus assures transparency in the DepEd’s school feeding program.
“The Department of Education is serious about good governance and our track record will show that we have been gaining in our reform efforts in this huge agency,” Lapus says.
DepEd officials earlier submitted documents explaining concerns and questions regarding pricing, product specifications, and bidding procedures to the Senate Committee on Education.
On the overpricing issue, a market price survey of the various leading commercial brands in the targeted 13 food-poor provinces was submitted. The prices also differed in different parts of the country from P8.00 for 55 grams or equivalent to P15.00 for 100 grams to a high of P20.75 at 35 grams or P59.00 for 100 grams. The increase in prices is mainly for shipment to island municipalities and food-poor provinces in Visayas and Mindanao.
Through this program, acknowledged as a successful flagship program in health and nutrition, there had been marked increase in weight among school children, decrease in the number of malnutrition cases and improved school attendance. In 2008, for instance, the incidence of undernutrition dropped from 22 percent to 16 percent. (DepEd)