The steady beep of hospital monitors replaced the familiar rhythm of my father’s footsteps. At forty-seven, he lay pale, awaiting surgery for four heart blockages. I was only twelve, grappling with a reality I never imagined: my dad, the biker who’d ride six hours from Makati to Rizal, was now tethered to machines.
Just yesterday, we were laughing about late-night talk shows. Today, I’m learning words like “angioplasty” and “coronary heart disease.” The cold hospital glow cast a harsh spotlight on how quickly life changes.
This wasn’t just my story. It was a wake-up call to the pain echoing across countless Filipino families, exemplifying a silent crisis unfolding across the nation. Mortality rates from non-communicable diseases such as cancer, heart disease, and diabetes are soaring, claiming 41 million lives globally each year, with a disproportionate impact on low- and middle-income countries (Angeles-Agdeppa and Custodio).
Even more alarmingly, 95 Filipino children succumb to malnutrition every day (“Child Survival”). These disparate tragedies share a common culprit: unhealthy diets. The Filipino diet has failed on two critical fronts: individual well-being and environmental sustainability.
A study by Angeles-Agdeppa and Custodio reveals that working adults in the Philippines consume barely enough calories for rest, let alone regular daily activity. Our Filipino diet lacks the diversity recommended by the EAT-Lancet Commission, a group of 37 world-lead.