Seeking to send a strong signal that the Arroyo administration is moving forward on its nationwide campaign against hunger and malnutrition, the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) has reported significant gains in President Arroyo’s Accelerated Hunger Mitigation Program (AHMP) this year.

NAPC Secretary Domingo F. Panganiban said recently that the Arroyo administration’s bid to reduce the incidence of extreme hunger among Filipinos had received a big boost in the first semester of 2009 as various agencies involved in the AHMP increased the pace and efficiency of program implementation.

“The President had made it very clear that government should work double-time on the AHMP this year in anticipation of the possible consequences of the global economic crisis on the country’s food security,” Panganiban said.

The NAPC chief said the AHMP is overseen and managed by Secretary Francisco Duque of the Department of Health (DOH) and Assistant Secretary Maria-Bernardita Flores, who leads the National Nutrition Council (NNC).

Quoting a preliminary report from the NNC, the NAPC chief said the families of some 1.8 million public school children from Grade 1 to Grade 3 had received rations of rice under the Food for School Program (FSP) of the Department of Education (DepEd) for school year 2008 to 2009.

“The families of another 499, 548 children in daycare centers meanwhile received rations of rice under the daycare rice distribution program of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).”

He said government likewise saw to the establishment of some 14,581 Tindahan Natin outlets as of June this year under the AHMP. “These outlets can allow an estimated 14.5 million families access to affordable food,” Panganiban said.

He said considerable progress had also been made under the Rice Seed Subsidy Program of the Department of Agriculture (DA) as distribution operations for all types of rice seeds covered around 2 million hectares during the dry planting season extending from September last year to March this year.

For the wet season of 2009, distribution operations under the seed subsidy program had already covered an area of around 969,721 hectares as of early July, Panganiban said.