"Grow malunggay (Moringga Oleifera), fight hunger."

This was the battle cry of Secretary Domingo Panganiban, National Anti-Poverty Commission czar, yesterday as he called on Negros Occidental officials headed by Acting Governor Isidro Zayco to urge their constituents to plant and eat malunggay. Panganiban, who met with the Negros officials at the Capitol in Bacolod City, said he was invited by Ambassador Eduardo Cojuangco to meet with the mayors of Negros Occidental to discuss with them livelihood programs for the poor.

The NAPC definition of poverty are "people without jobs", he said. We are reviving malunggay as a major crop since its provides all the nutrients needed by a family such as calcium, iron, beta-carotene, niacin, and Vitamin A, Panganiban said.

He said the NAPC is initially pushing for backyard planting of malunggay for the consumption of families and on the long term the target is to produce malunggay powder as an additive in the school feeding programs of government in public schools.

Powdered malunggay can be mixed with noodles to provide needed nutrients of children, he said.

A cup of malunggay is equivalent to three glasses of milk in terms of nutrients, he said.

The NAPCs number one endorser of malunggay for lactating mothers is movie and television celebrity Kris Aquino, he said, because she is eating it everyday so her baby, breastfed James Jr., will be healthy. Aquino is married to Negrense basketball star James Yap. The NAPC is also pushing for more production of cassava that is a source of carbohydrates and protein, and camote (sweet potatoes) that has fiber, Vitamin A, beta-carotene, carbohydrates and protein as part of the poverty and hunger mitigation programs of the government, he said.

Panganiban also said increase production of malunggay in the future would also enable residents to sell their leaves to San Miguel Corp. for conversion into powder form to be used in the production of its instant noodles, while the seeds of the leguminous plant can be sold for the production of oil.

Also discussed with the local officials yesterday were measures to contain the problem of fruit flies, Panganiban said.

DEFINITION OF POVERTY

On recent IBON Foundation's survey report that more Filipinos are poor today, Panganiban said the group should state what its definition of poor Filipinos are.

The IBON survey showed that more than three-fourths of Filipinos rated themselves as poor, with 76.8 percent of the respondents saying they think of themselves as poor, up from the figure of 67.6 percent in January and 69.3 percent in the same period last year.

The IBON report was probably published to initiate concern that the government is not doing anything to address poverty but this is not true, Panganiban said.

Panganiban pointed out that the Arroyo administration last year generated almost a million jobs nationwide.

A National Census and Statistics Survey as of 2003 showed that the Philippines population was 84.6 million population, with P4 million classified as poor, 40 percent of whom live in the Luzon urban beltway, he said.

But he also said the number has been reduced to 3.4 million since that survey was taken.

Asked if those earning below the minimum wage were not considered poor, Panganiban said they are earning at least about a dollar a day.

He said a $1 or P45 is very small but if there are four earners in the family that is P180 a day that in the Philippines can feed many on the table, unlike $4 in America that can hardly feed a person once, he said.

The cost of living in the United States and the Philippines are different, here P45 can buy a kilo of rice and viand, he said.*CPG

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