If he gets elected to the Senate in the coming May 2025 midterm polls, former senator Kiko Pangilinan plans to tap the private sector for his proposed “Libreng Almusal (Free Breakfast)” program for public school students from daycare to Grade 12 levels. 

Speaking during the launch of Kawa Pilipinas community kitchen in Manila on Sunday, April 6, the former official underscored the role that the private sector must play in achieving food security and food justice in the country. 

“Importante (ang) participation ng private sector… The ones with the deepest pockets are actually the private sector,” he said, explaining that while the government will act as the initiator and catalyst, it is the private sector that will make any program “sustainable.”

According to the former senator, government comprises merely 20% of the country’s gross domestic product, while the private sector produces 80%. 

Pangilinan is proposing a free breakfast program for public school students to ensure their access to nutritious food, noting earlier how hunger has impacted the learning abilities of the Filipino youth. 

“Dapat nangingibabaw ‘yung prayoridad na ito dahil nga may krisis sa edukasyon, ginugutom ang ating mga anak, stunting one-third of our kids, our children are stunting in various degrees,” he said. 

But he stressed that if the program pushes through, “up to half of the food that will be served in schools will come from local farmers and local fisherfolk communities” to increase the incomes of farmers. 

Pangilinan’s Sagip Saka Act, which allows national and local governments to buy directly from farmers and fisherfolk without public bidding, will complement this free breakfast program. 

According to the December 2024 survey from the Social Weather Stations, the percentage of families who saw themselves as poor reached 63%, up four points from 59% in September 2024.

This is the highest level of self-rated poverty incidence in 21 years. In November 2003, self-rated poor families reached 64%.