IN last week’s Senate hearing on the alleged illegal importation of sugar, Senior Agriculture Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban justified his decision to allow the entry of imports sans the observation of official procedures by claiming that he was merely following President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s instructions. He added that immediate importation was needed to reduce soaring sugar prices and tame overall inflation.

I was in disbelief when he made this claim. For one, even assuming that the President made the instruction, Panganiban should have advised his boss on the lawful procedure as Marcos may not be familiar with the regulations given the tons of concerns he has to deal with. There are ways of attaining the President’s objective without violating legal procedures. In the process, Marcos’ prestige would be enhanced as it demonstrates that he is a stickler to the rule of law.

For another, the objective of checking the rising prices of sugar was not attained despite allowing imports sans the observance of proper legal procedures. Refined sugar prices continue to hover at more than P100 per kilo while brown sugar is around P94 per kilo. This undermines the credibility of the President.

It makes me wonder whether Panganiban still thinks we are in the martial law era when presidential instructions became part of the law of the land. He was a senior official in the then Ministry of Agriculture during that period. I understand that one of the foremost tasks of a senior government official is to protect one’s principal. Panganiban’s

admission in the Senate hearing, however, has placed the President in a bad light.

On a more positive note, I attended the Management Association of the Philippines’ (MAP) meeting last week, which discussed how the organization can help alleviate the country’s pervasive malnutrition problem. This is a thrust being championed by MAP President Benedicta Du-Baladad, a highly respected and accomplished lawyer cum manager.

One of the eminent speakers in the forum was Dr. Cielito Habito, former socioeconomic planning secretary and a MAP governor, who expounded on the many pernicious effects of widespread malnutrition among the Filipino kids. A number of his points are worth repeating.

For one, we have the worst stunting in Southeast Asia at almost 29 percent among kids between 0 and 5 years old compared to Malaysia’s 21 percent, Thailand’s 10 percent and China’s 8 percent. This is a result of pervasive malnutrition.

As a result, data show that we have the worst intelligence quotient level in the Asean, surpassed even by countries like Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar. Reading comprehension among our kids is the second worst in the world, surpassed only by the Dominican Republic based on the internationally administered Program for International Students Assessment scores.

Because of cognitive impairment, the Philippines cannot take advantage of its so-called demographic sweet spot of having a relatively young labor force. The aging workforces of Japan and China, and gradually in neighboring Thailand, mean an increasing number of pensioners vis-a-vis their working age populations. This translates to more dependent people and lesser active workers.

Meanwhile, the best time to intervene in the malnutrition problem is from 0 to 5 years old as 90 percent of the brain of a person is formed during that period. In other words, school feeding programs implemented when the child has reached school age are less effective in ensuring that the cognitive ability of our youth is not compromised.

Lastly, widespread malnutrition in the Philippines is very much correlated to high food prices. Serious attention and effort should be exerted in ensuring the availability of healthy and nutritious food at affordable prices. Agricultural protectionism for more than 50 years failed to attain this objective. It only made the situation worse because there is no incentive or compelling reason why our producers should become more efficient and competitive.

Protection should be time-bound and be lifted gradually. Unfortunately, vested interest groups in the country are so powerful that this reform cannot be implemented despite tons of scientific evidence that it will redound to the good of the country by lifting the overall welfare of the ordinary Filipinos.

Former Public Works secretary Rogelio Singson, meanwhile, asserted that the country was in a “nutrition crisis” that negatively impacts current and future development potential. He expressed shock at the fact that our nutrition and economic experts do not have an idea of how much money will be needed to sufficiently address the nutritional requirements of 0- to 5 year-old kids. He stressed that without knowledge of the budgetary requirement, it is impossible to correct the situation. Once the needed budget is determined, meanwhile, sourcing it will be the next challenge.

Whether our politicians and policymakers put responding to the nutrition crisis on top of their priority lists is something that the group dreams of, given that our politicians’ planning horizons are within the confines of their terms in office. It is in this regard that the efforts of the MAP, the private sector as a whole, and civil society groups are so critical because they are not burdened by the goal of winning political exercises.