Pia pushes for breastfeeding amid rising poverty and hunger:
"It's cheaper, healthier and gov't can't VAT mother's milk"

"Whether it's the survey of the Social Weather Stations (SWS) or Pulse Asia you're more inclined to believe, the reality is that poverty is now stalking a great majority of Filipinos - possibly ranging from 59 percent (SWS) to 75 percent (Pulse Asia) of the entire population."

This was the reaction of Senator Pia S. Cayetano, Chairperson of the Senate Health Committee, to Malacañang's moves challenging the credibility of Pulse Asia's July surveys on self-rated poverty and the public's performance rating of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her administration.

"The Executive should recognize that hunger and poverty is far worse than what it wants people to believe. What surveys simply do is verify the current state of affairs."

Instead of questioning the surveys, the government should open its eyes to these realities and work on a range of solutions to uplift the people's living conditions, she said.

One solution being proposed by Cayetano is the intensification of government efforts to promote breastfeeding nationwide, especially among the poor who sorely lack access to information on the various benefits of mother's milk over commercial infant formula.

"Promoting breastmilk is the cheapest and healthiest way of addressing hunger, malnutrition and reducing the high mortality rate among young Filipino children," she stressed, citing that the country's under-five infant mortality rate as of 2006 (latest available official data) is at 32 per 1,000 live births.

"The price of a small can of infant formula is equivalent to a day's worth of work for a minimum wage-earning parent. But mother's milk is virtually free and would even ensure good health for both mother and child," explained the lady senator, a firm breastfeeding advocate.

"Come to think of it, the government charges the 12 percent value added tax (VAT) on commercial infant formula and therefore even profits from the multi-million infant formula industry even while the national breastfeeding program suffers from lack of attention."

"It's healthier and cheaper, and to top it all, the government can't VAT mother's milk," she pointed out.

She said studies show that a family spends an average of P4,000 per month for formula-feeding an infant. Bottle-feeding and infant formula, she added, have also been linked to incidents of diarrhea and acute respiratory infection among infants.

Cayetano is the author of Senate Bill 1698, also known as the "Expanded Breastfeeding Act of 2007" which has been passed on third reading at the Senate and is now awaiting a counterpart measure from the House of Representatives.

The bill seeks to revive the culture of breastfeeding in the country by mandating the establishment of "lactation stations" in public places and private and public offices.

The proposal also aims to put up "human milk banks" in health institutions providing maternity services as an additional measure to promote early breastfeeding and eliminate the use of infant formula milk in both public and private hospitals.