MANILA, Philippines 鈥� 1Pacman Party List first nominee Milka Romero said she wants to work on an address nutrition needs and issues of children and the youth.
Romero is a 32-year-old business, socio-civic, and sports leader who takes over the helm of 1Pacman Party-List as her father Rep. Mikee Romero ends his three consecutive terms in Congress in June.
She said she鈥檚 been guided by her experience since starting at 19 years old to begin building a food and beverage group of companies called Miro Group.
鈥淲e study the environment and look ahead, certainly. But first, we have to address issues that stick out and stare at us in the face,鈥� said Milka in an interview.
Children鈥檚 nutrition
She said that as 1Pacman plots out its moves to develop sports programs especially in the countryside, the specter of children requiring immediate nutritional boosts hits her.
Recent data from world and local government agencies point to a major prevalence of malnutrition of children in the Philippines that has resulted in the stunting of growth of three out of ten children.
鈥淚mmediately, we must strengthen our feeding programs to reach the outlying areas. If we miss out on providing the right nutrition to children, stunting of growth eventually takes place physically and mentally. This is a clear fact,鈥� she said.
鈥淎s we do this, we must look at the ability of most farming-based families to benefit from increased farm yield. We must be certain of farmers鈥� access to better, environment-friendly fertilizers, adequate irrigation, and technology that can double farm yield,鈥� she said.
鈥淭hese seem easy to formulate. But they are easy to formulate because they are logical. Outside of this, complex situations arise,鈥� she added.
鈥淭he more income, the better the ability to obtain nutritious food. More people out of poverty levels also means more chances of our country producing youth who can engage in meaningful, healthy, and socially-enhancing activities such as sports,鈥� said Milka.
Milka was a member of the women鈥檚 national football team and was co-captain of the Ateneo women鈥檚 football team in the UAAP.
Aside from attending to Miro Group concerns, she now co-owns and manages two professional women鈥檚 teams 鈥� the Capital1 Solar Spikers which plays in the Premier Volleyball League, and the Capital1 Solar Strikers which plays with the women鈥檚 division of the Philippine Football Federation.
As chairman of the 1Pacman Party-list, she is in charge of the socio-civic programs of her father. Noteworthy of these are the Save-a-Heart program that has provided major financial assistance to some 2,000 babies and children of needy families to undergo heart operations in collaboration with the Philippine Heart Center.
Their scholarship outreach program has benefitted some 30,000 students, while their medical assistance program has聽 assisted some 300,000 individuals over nine years.