Right to Adequate Food Framework Bill filed in Philippines
A bill was filed at the House of Representatives penalizing any person blocking access to food during calamities or war
House Bill 3795, or the proposed “Right to Adequate Food Framework Act of 2014”, seeks to make the provision of sufficient food for all Filipinos a government priority, aims to harmonize the provisions of all laws related to Filipinos’ right to adequate food, and calls for the creation of a Philippine Commission on Human Rights to assess the impact and efficiency of the government’s programs against hunger.
Under this bill filed on February 3, 2014, the Filipino government will be required to increase the land devoted to food production by 50 percent of all prime agriculture land in every region and assure food access to all without discrimination.
“The bill was filed just as reports of looting by survivors on business establishments prompted police response in provinces hit by Super Typhoon ‘Yolanda’ during the early weeks of slow humanitarian aid”, informs the online news media Inquirer.net.
Based on the principle that ‘every person has a right to be free from hunger’, the penalty of prison from 6 to maximum 12 years “will be imposed on any public or private actor, who deliberately starves or denies access to food to any particular individual or group,” the bill read.
According to the Manila Bulletin, “a comprehensive framework law is essential to make the right to adequate food meaningful. This comprehensive law will not only harmonize provisions of all laws related to Filipinos’ right to adequate food, but would also clarify the scope and content of the right, establish standards for compliance, lay down principles to shape the process of realization, and prohibit violations of the right to adequate food”.