SOMEWHERE in Zamboanga del Sur there is a public elementary school where 26 of 154 students suffer from severe malnutrition. Apparently severe enough to die as happened to one of the students, Jonathan Oya, 12 years old, weighing 15 kilograms (the ideal weight for a four-year-old). The story claims that Jonathan’s case is not an isolated one and that health workers were trying to deal with malnutrition in the town of Labangan, Zamboanga del Sur. Glab Elementary School where Jonathan was a student had the 26 students with severe malnutrition, of which Jonathan was one. On the dismal news of Jonathan’s passing, the Labangan municipal health officer, Dr. Marilyn Manupac, said that cases of malnutrition had actually declined since 2015 when it was 14 percent.

Source: Manila Times February 22, 2018 16:18 UTC