Senator Bam Aquino on Wednesday supported Senator Alan Peter Cayetano’s long-standing push against child stunting, which Cayeatno has long warned not only affects children’s health but also contributes to the country’s learning crisis.
“Hindi po natin malulutas ang krisis sa edukasyon kung hindi po natin tututukan ang isa sa mga ugat nito: ang kakulangan sa nutrisyon,” Aquino said in his sponsorship speech for the proposed Expanded National Nutrition Program Act during the special session on June 17, 2026.
The measure seeks to address malnutrition and stunting through nutrition interventions at every life stage, from pregnancy to high school. It includes feeding programs for kindergarten to Grade 3, a universal health record to monitor each child’s growth, and direct local procurement from farmers and fisherfolk.
This covers the same crisis Cayetano has been single-handedly warning about in the Senate for more than two years, stressing that stunting leads to irreversible consequences such as impaired brain development, weakened immunity, poor academic performance, and reduced productivity.
“Kung y’ung bata ay stunted, gaano man kaganda ang housing project mo, livelihood projects, or whatever, hindi ito makakapagbigay ng returns kasi once na stunted na, limited na ‘yong interventions na puwede,” he said during 2025 budget debates in November 2024.
“Aanhin natin ang P6 trillion budget kung one-third, one-fourth, or one-fifth of your population is stunted or bansot?” he added.
He first raised the alarm during a Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2) quarterly meeting in September 2023, after meeting with Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam who pointed out the importance of investing in anti-stunting measures.
“He said the best return of investment, peso to peso, is in anti-stunting,” Cayetano said in 2023.
“You can have free and quality education, scholarships, and the best computers, pero ‘pag stunted ang bata, mahirap nang mai-correct iyon,” he added.
Since then, Cayetano has repeatedly urged fellow senators to allot a significant budget for a multi-agency nationwide program that will ensure proper nutrition of Filipino children during the first 1,000 days of life. He has also pushed for health centers in all barangays, giving priority to regions with high stunting prevalence like BARMM.
He also filed a bill as early as July 2025 seeking to create an Anti-Stunting Action Plan (ASAP) Council to craft and implement a whole-of-government and whole-of-society roadmap to prevent, reduce, and ultimately end child stunting in the country.
Despite these appeals, the 2026 national budget did not include the full-scale anti-stunting program Cayetano had sought, although it funded first 1,000 days-related cash grants under the 4Ps.
“Are we willing years from now, y’ung young adults natin, one out of four of them cannot reach their full potential because of this (stunting)? We need a specific intervention,” Cayetano said in December 2025.
A few months later, Aquino was flagging the same thing in his sponsorship speech.
“Currently, 26.7 percent of Filipino children under five years old are stunted. Ibig sabihin po isa sa bawat apat na kabataan ay hindi naaabot ang kanilang tunay na potensyal,” Aquino said.
After the sponsorship speeches on Wednesday, further deliberations on the proposed Expanded National Nutrition Program Act was suspended for a later date.