CITING its consequence to many, the Camanava Press Corps with yours truly as its president, is the latest to join in the advocacy campaign of the National Food Authority-North District Office (NFA-NDO) of collecting one million signatures to become ‘Food Guardians’ who’ll be their partners in ensuring rice sufficiency.
Determined to be NFA-NDO’s partner, its officers and members recently paid a courtesy call with its chief, Manager Jaime S. Hadlocon, to firm up the alliance which makes the Press Corps, the oldest and most established media organization in the northern Metro Manila, the Food Guardians.
The press corps strongly believes that it can also be an effective partner for everyone to know about the need to give importance on rice sufficiency and the negative effects of staple wastage.
Much earlier, Manager Hadlocon had tied up with public as well as private mentors in CAMANAVA (Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas, Valenzuela) area to encourage them to join the advocacy drive citing their key roles in shaping up the students’ well-being and interest.
“We looked forward with the partnership among the teachers as well as school officials in our ‘Food Guardian’ campaign as this’ll be an effective tool for all of us to value this Filipinos’ main staple, besides they can effectively make their students more aware and eventually the parents about this drive,” he says.
In fact, he’s set up a “pledge wall” at its Valenzuela City main office where consumers as well as retailers can sign their pledge of support to become a food guardian.
As a ‘food guardian,’ the NDO manager explains that he must not waste rice, will help in making sure that rice is available, accessible, affordable and visible in public markets and will follow the correct food handling procedures to make sure that rice is safe for consumers.
Mr. Hadlocon is all praises for NFA Administrator Renan Dalisay for initiating the campaign on a national level.
“This is right time for all of us to be more aware about the importance of this main staple which has been wasted in many instances but we all care less about its effect in the long run,” he says. The NFA-NDO chief has cited data on rice wastage which showed that each Filipino wastes two tablespoons of cooked rice daily which if not wasted could feed 2.6-million Filipinos a year.
“This wastage in rice can be seen in most eateries and fast food restaurants where people eat rice and leave plenty of it, unmindful of how this rice wastage would affect rice sufficiency in the long run.”
He reiterates that these food guardians are expected to uphold the agency’s rice sufficiency initiatives by not wasting rice.
The Press Corps’ officers and members had solidified their support to NFA’s advocacy campaign as they registered their names on the ‘Pledge Wall.’ GOOD RIDDANCE/ARLIE CALALO
