Aggressive food marketing throwing up weighty problem in Philippines

One of the Philippines' most senior health officials said something needed to be done about the "aggressive marketing​" of unhealthy food products, and called for the government to “correct the current situation of the food industry’s failure in promoting good nutrition and consuming good nutrients​”. 

Maria-Bernadita Flores, the assistant health secretary, said at the launch of Nutrition Month that “poor individual choices​” alone do not result in overnutrition.

According to the latest national nutrition survey, one-third of all Filipino adults is either obese or overweight after two decades of continual growth in the figure.

“Laws must be enacted to regulate the marketing of foods and beverages to children​,” said Flores.

“Both the national and local government must be able to scale up their respective nutrition interventions so that children grow properly and reduce their risk of obesity in later life.​”

• A house bill has been filed in the Filipino parliament to legislate for a national food security council in the country. 

If it passed successfully, the council would form the equivalent of the current Office of the Presidential Adviser on Food Security and Agricultural Modernisation. 

The filing reads: “The bill proposes the creation of a body that rationalises the current organisational and programmatic initiatives of government in agriculture. As a body that shall be attached to the Office of the President, it shall be tasked to fine-tune the policy framework of government in the pursuit of food security thrusts and priorities​.” 

Malaysia PM hints at new incentives for SMEs next year​

Malaysia's prime minister, Najib Razak, said that SMEs will expected to enjoy more performance-based incentives from next.

Najib said: “There are few proposals on incentives for the SMEs including tax exemption, rebate for transportation cost and rebate for bank loans.”

SME growth of 13.6% last year continued to outpace the overall economy, resulting in its share to total GDP rising to 35.9%.

Annus horribilis continues for agriculture in Laos​

Faced with late rains in one part of the country and floods in another, Laos faces critical climatic conditions with a worrying effect on agriculture.

Upland areas of the Southeast Asian country have suffered badly from the late arrival of seasonal rains, which has hampered rice planting.

At the same time, heavy rainfall has brought record-breaking localised flooding to the country's north-east, according to local media reports. 

Rice farmers across swathes of the uplands have postponed planting for fear of poor crops. This is likely to raise prices and undercut the country's 2015 production target of some 4.2m tonnes, state-run Vientiane Times said. 

Flash flooding in the northeastern province of Huaphan following recent heavy rains have seen livestock and grain store losses across the region. 

In some areas 30m deep, the waters have risen higher than has ever been recorded, either officially or in the local oral tradition. This has left affected villages in desperate need of emergency aid including rice and drinking water. 

Natural disasters are a major contributor to food insecurity and poverty in Laos. The late rains and floods follow soon after a grasshopper plague affected crops in the northern province of Luang Prabang. 

Protectionist Philippines among region’s least open to FDI​

Recent research has highlighted the restrictive nature of the Philippines economy towards foreign direct investment (FDI).

According to Eria, a regional think tank, the country is among the most restrictive in Southeast Asia when it comes to allowing the establishment of foreign countries in its territory.

Eria found that the region’s countries with more developed industries tended to adopt FDI policies to protect their domestic industries, like Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines.

Countries with less developed industries, like Vietnam and Cambodia, had adopted key FDI policies to maintain their momentum of economic liberalisation and integration in the region, Eria said.

The Philippines was also being held back in terms of attracting overseas direct investment by the so-called ninth regular foreign investment negative list (FINL), which was signed in by President Aquino in 2012, and limits the areas in which foreign companies can operate.

Business groups have called on the government to broaden the number of activities open to foreigners. Currently, a long list of professions is restricted to Filipinos, while the stake a foreign owner can have in its local business is also limited.

Food poisoning on the rise in Vietnam​

Vietnam has been seeing a slight increase in the number of serious food poisoning cases this year. 

The country’s General Statistics Office said Vietnam said that so far this year, there have been 59 serious food poisoning incidents that affected a total of 2,206 people. Thus far, 13 have died. 

In the same period last year, Vietnam had 56 serious food poisoning cases, with 1,874 affected people and 16 deaths. 

Last month alone, 308 people were affected in 17 serious food poisoning cases that claimed three lives. 

Lee positive on Asean harmonisation​

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong of Singapore has said despite the size of the task of setting up the Asean Economic Community (AEC),  it still won't signal the end of cooperation among the member states.

Lee said: “I think we will have an Asean Community by the end of the year. What the quality is depends how hard we work. There are outstanding things to be done. The more we can do, the better community we will have​.”

“Beyond that, we need to think what we want to do as a next step in our regional integration and cooperation. And [Singaproe has] an Asean group, which is studying this​.”