MANILA, Philippines —More than three million preschoolers are malnourished as only 17.8 percent or about 2 in every 10 children, ages 6 months to 5 years old, have met the recommended energy intake daily, according to the food consumption survey (FCS) conducted in 2008 by the Food and Nutrition Research Institute of the Department of Science and Technology (FNRI-DoST).

The survey also revealed that the average one-day total food intake of preschool-age children decreased from 562 grams in 2003 to 492 grams in 2008. In terms of calorie intake, the trend among preschoolers went down from 980 kilocalories in 2003 to 843 kilocalories in 2008. (Gabriel Mabutas)

Bishop airs reaction
Former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. is not qualified to be buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani in Taguig City.

This was stated by Caloocan Bishop Deogracias Iniguez, chairman of the Public Affairs Committee of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), who said that Marcos cannot be considered qualified if the said cemetery is really intended for those who led heroic lives.

“For me, if that is really a National Heroes’ cemetery and it’s really intended for those who led heroic lives, I don’t think he’ll qualify to be buried there,” Iniguez said. (Leslie Ann Aquino)

Draft paper leaks
Leaders of the Parish Pastoral Council at the Sanctuario de San Jose in Mandalayung City drew flak when a draft statement, which declared it would bar giving communion to its parishioners who support the controversial Reproductive Health (RH) bill, leaked.

Alliance for Nationalism and Democracy (ANAD) party-list Rep. Pastor “Jun” Alcover said the church council is being “dictatorial” when it ordered that only parishioners who renounce the bill would be given communion.

“That threat is a bad indication. That’s dictatorial and the Church should not show dictatorship,” Alcover said, in reaction to the prematurely released statement of the congregation, which opposed RH measure being “unconstitutional, ineffective, immoral and evil.” (Rio Rose Ribaya)

P.D.E.A. monitors
The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) is closely monitoring Filipinos in the country who have been repatriated or deported after being caught of bringing illegal drugs abroad to prevent them from making the same mistake again.

“We try to make sure to give them whatever assistance we can give to them so as to prevent them from serving as drug mules again,” said Director Joseph Ladip, chief of PDEA’s International Cooperation and Foreign Affairs Service.

Ladip said that the PDEA has been meeting Filipinos who have returned to the Philippines after being caught trying to bring in illegal drugs in other countries. (Jeffrey Damicog)

WOMAN HEADS FIRE BUREAU
The Region 4-A Fire Bureau is now headed by a woman chief superintendent (a rank equivalent to general.)

Chief Supt. Nympha D. Cuartel has replaced Chief Supt. Ariel Barrioga in a simple turnover ceremony last month, it was learned.

Region 4-A or the Cavite-Laguna-Batangas-Rizal-Quezon (Calabarzon) area is the most populated region in the country.

Cuartel is only one of a few women officers who are assigned to top police and fire department positions in the country. (Anthony Giron)