Bless Aubrey Ogerio

An energy company urged various state universities and colleges (SUCs) to give an answer to the rising concern about the lack of food security in the Philippines during the first University of the Philippines-State Universities and Colleges Summit on Friday, Sept. 15, at Davao City.

Photo Courtesy of Feed the People PH/Facebook

Energies PH Co-chairman and CEO Antonio Ver launched its Feed the People PH (FTPPH) project during the summit to foster partnerships with top educational institutions with expertise in agriculture, fisheries and aquaculture.

With the theme, “Pagtutulay, Pagtutuloy: Strengthening Partnerships in Philippine Public Higher Education,” the summit gets its participating schools to take part in interdisciplinary education, research and community service projects to alleviate food insufficiency.

It also gathered heads of Philippine SUCs, Commission on Higher Education officials and stakeholders from Congress and private higher education institutions, as well as 114 SUCs across the country.

In 2022, the World Food Programme reported that one out of 10 households in the Philippines are food insecure.

According to Ver, the initiative is a collaborative effort started more than ten years ago with the help of UP President Angelo Jimenez and FTPPH Chairman Jorge Sarmiento.

UP Executive Vice President Jose Fernando Alcantara, UP Los Baños Chancellor Jose Camacho, Jr. and Vice Chancellor Nathaniel Bantayan, and Energies PH Chief Financial Officer Carlo Olivar also signed their commitment to the vision of FTPPH.

Ver added that the project’s funding would come from an “energy fund”–a source for Energies PH, which also manages a funding program for projects related to science, technology and food.

Aside from addressing challenges in food security, FTPPH also aims to improve the productivity and expansion of the Philippines’ agricultural-fisheries sector and lower food prices for every people.