PRESIDENT Marcos Jr. has revamped the Inter-Agency Task Force on Zero Hunger (Task Force on Zero Hunger) and named the secretary of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the executive director the National Nutrition Council (NNC) as co-chairpersons.
The task force is mandated to oversee and ensure the implementation of government policies, initiatives and projects aimed at eliminating hunger in the country. It was previously chaired by the head of the Office of the Cabinet Secretary which was abolished last year by virtue of Executive Order No. 1 (S. 2022).
The revamp was made legal under Executive Order 27, titled “Reorganizing the Inter-Agency Task Force on Zero Hunger, and amending Executive Order No. 101 (S. 2020) for the Purpose,” which the President signed on May 18.
Under EO 27, the secretary of the Department of Agriculture shall serve as the vice-chairperson, while the secretaries of the Department of Agrarian Reform, Department of Budget and Management, Department of Education, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Department of Labor and Employment, Department of Trade and Industry, and Department of Science and Technology shall be members of the task force.
Other members of the task force include the director general of the National Economic and Development Authority, the chairperson of the Commission on Higher Education and a representative of the Office of the President.
The President, in signing the EO, said all other provisions of EO No. 101, which created the task force on January 10, 2022, shall remain in full force and effect.
Under EO 101 created the task force as there was a need to carefully coordinate, rationalize, monitor, and assess the efforts of concerned government agencies and instrumentalities to ensure a whole-of-government approach to eradicating hunger and achieving food security.
It added that involuntary hunger, food security, undernutrition, and child wasting, stunting and mortality, continue to be serious concerns in the country.
It also said that under the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, one of the Sustainable Development Goals was “ending hunger, achieving food security and improved nutrition, and promoting sustainable agriculture.”
As this developed, the Office of the Executive Secretary reminded all government agencies and instrumentalities to ensure strict compliance with the strengthened standards of Complete Staff Work (CSW) in the interest of efficiency in processing of requests for presidential issuances, authorizations, and other approvals.
Memorandum Circular No. 21, signed on May 18, states that all proposals or requests for presidential issuances, authorizations, and other approvals shall be embodied in a memorandum which shall contain a concise statement of the background/history of the request, justification and/or rationale, legal basis, agency coordination, potential problems, and fund availability.
A printed draft copy of the request, along with an editable electronic copy and copies of comments and/or recommendations signed or endorsed by department secretaries or heads of agencies concerned, together with a statement by the proponent that the necessary coordination or consultations were made with other relevant government entities, shall be attached to the cover memorandum.
Failure to comply with the said requirement shall result in the return of the request to the proponent.
MC 21 also stated that government agencies and instrumentalities, whose inputs, comments and/or recommendations are requested by the Office of the Executive Secretary (OES), or Office of the Senior Deputy Executive Secretary (OSDES), Office of the Deputy Executive Secretary for General Administration (ODESGA), Office of the Deputy Executive Secretary for Legal Affairs (ODESLA), Office of the Deputy Executive Secretary for Finance and Administration (ODESFA), and Presidential Management Staff (PMS) shall respond to the request within the period prescribed.
Failure to respond within the prescribed period shall be taken to mean that there are no objection to the proposal or position of the proponent.
