Aklan school kids, kins not to go hungry this summer
BY VENUS G. VILLANUEVA

KALIBO, Aklan- Some 1,561 school children in Aklan's 3 lower-class municipalities here will not suffer pangs of hunger this summer, including their families, thanks to the Food for School Program Bigas Para Sa Mag-aaral at Pamilya.
Based on National Food Authority-Aklan data, a total of 23,415 kilograms of good quality rice were delivered recently by this food agency to 37 primary and elementary schools in Lezo, Tangalan and Buruanga and distributed to Grade l pupils.
The rice supply for these school kids, according to NFA-Aklan Assistant Provincial Manager Erna Young, will last for 15 days.
Young said this is the fourth delivery of the NFA to these schools, which started December of 2005 for Kinder and Grade 1 pupils. With the program now focused only on Grade 1 pupils, the number of recipients in Aklan has lessened, from 2,388 to 1,561. Under a Memorandum of Agreement with the Department of Education, the rice supply is received in schools by the principal or his/her authorized representative in behalf of the Grade 1 pupils, Young said.
The Food-for-School program remains high on President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's Order of Battle against poverty. She has recently ordered the release of an additional P4B to help sustain the fight against hunger.
The President has likewise called on various sectors to help with the government's hunger mitigation program. The local churches, religious organizations and other religious groups are in the forefront of the first line of defense against hunger, particularly during the summer vacation.
Under the program, rice and basic food items are given daily to schoolchildren. This will be modified to a weekly trek by the schoolchildren to their nearest churches or church organizations who will distribute a week's supply of the basic food items, thereby feeding not only the children but their parents as well. Also included in the hunger mitigation program is the Food-for-Work scheme where the poor and unemployed are given community-centered jobs.
President Arroyo has given instructions to ensure transparency in the use of funds against hunger.