THE NUTRI-BUN

THE NUTRI-BUN

WAS NUTRI-BUN A PROJECT OF PRESIDENT MARCOS OR THE USAID?

Sabi ng cRappler na pinamumunuan ng “Fake News Queen” na si Maria Ressa, hindi raw kay President Ferdinand Marcos ang Nutri-Bun Program sa Pilipinas noong 1970s kundi ito ay mula sa United States Agency for International Development (USAID). ANO ANG TOTOO? 

Nag-post kasi ang isang nagngangalang Richard Camarinta Dy noong Sept. 10, 2017, sa social media ng ganito: “Salamat Apo! Korap daw pero napapakain ng libre ang mga bata noon sa eskuwelahan. Korap daw pero linggu-linggo may supply ng kakainin sa paaralan. Salamat Pres. Marcos... dahil binusog mo ang mga kabataan noon, at may disiplina sila noong panahon mo. Salamat Pres. Marcos dahil alam namin na yung pera ng taong-bayan noon sa magagandang proyekto napunta na hanggang ngayon ay napapakinabangan namin...” 

Rappler screen-captured and tagged the post as “HINDI TOTOO” (FALSE) and did the same to all others who have been stating their experience about this online.

The resulting reportage was picked-up by various news providers, which didn’t even bother to do their own independent research. There's no question about the Marcos infrastructure projects still benefiting the Pilipino people until now; they're concrete example of the great achievements of that era. But let us check this fact-checker's claim.

 

I asked a friend who is working in Washington D.C. to help me do some research on this. It was just a few days ago when I received the information he gathered at his end.

Here’s a summary of our findings: Although USAID did provide food assistance to countries like the Philippines, the concept of the so-called “Nutri-Bun” was develop through the initiative of First Lady Imelda R. Marcos.

In a government study in 1968, the Philippines was having malnutrition problem among young children. With the help of Thomas M. Hahn Jr, then Virginia Tech (VT) president and husband to Margaret “Peggy” Lee, a close friend of Madam Marcos, a research team was send to the Philippines to study the malnutrition problem and develop a solution. That’s when the Nutri-Bun came into being.

VT developed a “fortified bread” specifically to address the problem. The bread was baked in a rounded form, and the First Lady called it “Nutri-Bun” because “it looks more like a bun (like the local pandesal or monay, only bigger, tastier and denser) than a regular rectangular bread.” In a sense it was the first lady and her staff (who helped the VT team), which coined the term “Nutri-Bun.”

The next step was constructing facilities were the Nutri-Bun could be mass-produced, such as bakeries inside school campuses, and engaging commercial bakeries which can deliver huge production. The government started importing wheat flour, at the same time tried to source out local materials that can be used as ingredients for the dough.

Starting with the school year 1970, the First Lady’s plan was to distribute the bread to schools and communities throughout the country for children to partake. On its pilot program, around 30 million Nutri-Buns were given to 200 thousand children from Grade 1 to 6 for the school year 1970-1971. It was a success.

Following this achievement by the Marcos government, the USAID incorporated the VT-developed “fortified bread” (a.k.a. Nutri-Bun) in its “Food for Peace” program starting in 1971, when it was officially called “Nutri-Bun” in international parlance.

In July-August 1972, the “Great Flood” engulfed much of Luzon. Bakeries shifted their deliveries of the Nutri-Buns from schools to flood-devastated areas. They, however, could not sustain the huge production demand. Here’s where USAID entered the scene. Owing to Madam Marcos’ initiative in the development of the fortified bread, the Philippines started receiving USAID food assistance in the form of Nutri-Buns. PLEASE NOTE THE TIMELINE!

Take note also that there were two kinds of Nutri-Buns being distributed at the time: Those baked in the Philippines were fortified by monggo beans while those donated by USAID were milk and soya-fortified.

In 1975, the Philippines develop its own food technology and the government took over the production of the bread anew. They improved the Nutri-Bun, by adding ingredients like moringa (malunggay), banana, micronutrients and protein to the dough mix. By 1979, severe malnutrition among young children in the Philippines was reduced to less than a quarter of a percent.

When the program was stopped during the Cory Aquino regime (1986-1992), severe malnutrition among children again went high in the Philippines. Intermittently, for the next decade, Nutri-Bun was again made available to public school children. In was only in July 2020, under President Rodrigo Duterte, that the full production of Nutri-Bun was again instituted. This time sweet potato (kamote) and squash (kalabasa) was added to the dough.

 

Now, a certain Nancy Dammann, media advisor of some sort to the USAID claimed in her 2003 memoir that the “Marcos administration pulled off a treacherous act” during the 1972 flood when “the nutri-bun bags were being stamped with the slogan ‘Courtesy of Imelda Marcos – Tulungan Project.’” Clearly, either she made a mistake or merely doing black propaganda. Did she intentionally removed “USAID” from the phrase? The phrase was COURTESY OF IMELDA MARCOS – USAID TULUNGAN PROJECT! This was the Nutri-Buns being air-dropped at the flooded provinces. Furthermore, the ones being given to schools were not packed, so there were no markings there.

So, tama si Richard Camarinta Dy, at palpak na naman ang cRappler dahil half-truths lang ang ibinahagi nila! Marami ring nakuryente sa paninirang ito! Niloloko niyo ang tao kaya lalong dumarami ang nagagalit sa inyo! Ang dami ng mga nagsusulputang biased and bogus fact-checkers kabilang na rito ang cRappler at Vera Viles, na nagkakalat ng black propaganda and yellow journalism! MAG-RESEARCH NAMAN KAYO NG MABUTI!

THE FACT-CHECKER HAS BEEN FACT-CHECKED!

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