(Eagle News) — Softrinks and energy drinks could soon be removed from the canteens of the country’s 46,000 public schools.
This is if House Bill No. 4039 recently filed by 1-Ang Edukasyon party-list Rep. Salvador Belaro Jr. becomes a law, or the Healthy Drinks in Public Schools Act.
In a statement, Belaro said the measure was filed as he was “worried that students (were) taking in too much sugar in their body” with the “unhealthy junk drinks” being “available in school canteens.”
He said HB 4039 “seeks to improve the diet of more than (21 million) Filipino students enrolled in public schools by regulating, if not totally banning, the sale of sugar-sweetened beverages” in public elementary and public high school institutions in the Philippines.
He said “on average, a single can of a sugary drink contains around 40 grams of free sugars equivalent to around six teaspoons of table sugar for adults.”
“The World Health Organization in 2016 pinpointed sugary drinks like softdrinks and energy sports drinks as major contributors to obesity and diabetes,” Belaro said.
He noted it was “enshrined in the Constitution that the state shall take a comprehensive approach to health development, which shall endeavor to make essential goods to all people at affordable cost.”
In 2007, he said the Department of Education had already issued Order No. 8 prohibiting the sale of such beverages.
A 1-Ang Edukasyon survey team, however, found that such beverages were still being sold in public school canteens.
“Hence the need for a law,” he said.
