Stressing that food assistance must never be used as a political tool, Akbayan Party-list Rep. Chel Diokno pushed for an explicit ban on political branding of food aid.
“There must be criminal liability for discriminatory distribution,” Diokno said during the Committee on Human Rights’ deliberation on the various proposals for the Right to Adequate Food Framework Act.
The proposed measures seek to create a national legal framework to serve as a guiding principle for future policies and programs pertaining to food security and nutrition.
Diokno underscored the need for criminal liability for discriminatory distribution and called for an anonymous grievance mechanism so that affected families can inform authorities and immediate action can be taken.
Diokno, a human rights lawyer, proposed the establishment of a transparent beneficiary system with privacy safeguards to ensure that allocated food goes to its intended beneficiaries.
“Food is a right, not a debt owed to politicians,” he said.
During the same hearing, Diokno also suggested holding government officials accountable for missed hunger targets.
“We have to have mechanisms in place. For example, automatic congressional review if targets aren’t met or are missed for two consecutive years,” he said, adding that concerned Cabinet secretaries should appear before Congress to explain their failure to meet the target.
“Mandatory appearance of concerned secretaries so they can explain to us what is being done and what they are not doing,” he stressed.
He further urged the government to make public a quarterly hunger dashboard and allow automatic reallocation of unused food funds to make the process more transparent.
