MANILA – A network of public health advocates and civil society organizations on Wednesday urged the government to implement measures that will protect Filipino consumers from unhealthy food products and noncommunicable diseases (NCDs).
The Healthy Philippines Alliance (HPA) noted these measures include a nutrient profile model (NPM) paired with a mandatory food warning label law.
“We need a robust NPM that sets threshold levels for sugar, sodium, and saturated fats in pre-packaged food products. Those that go beyond the thresholds will be identified through mandatory front-of-pack food warning labels to help consumers avoid products that can harm them,” HPA lead convenor and former health secretary Jaime Galvez Tan said in a statement.
“These interventions in turn encourage the food and beverage industry to reformulate their products,” he added.
The HPA maintains its position for the Philippines to adopt a strong pro-consumer NPM aligned with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) Model and the recommendation of the World Health Organization (WHO), citing maximum intake for nutrients of concern–sugar, sodium, and fats—to combat diabetes, cancers, and chronic kidney disease (CKD).
Tan disclosed the WHO and PAHO-based NPM has been pending at the National Nutrition Council.
“Contrary to what the industry has raised, the WHO PAHO Model is appropriate even to the Philippine population because the thresholds are based on WHO’s population nutrient intake goals. It is a tool meant for consumer protection,” he said.
“Front-of-pack food labeling is listed as one of WHO’s ‘best buy’ solutions to promote healthy diets and prevent NCDs,” he added.
A study published in January 2025 indicated that food products tagged with “High in” warning labels significantly dropped from 70.8 percent to 52.5 percent after full implementation of the food warning label law in Chile.
This indicates that food manufacturers chose reformulation, wherein levels of sugar, sodium, and fats were lowered across several food and beverage products.
The National Kidney Transplant Institute estimates that one Filipino every hour develops CKD.
In 2021, the Philippine Society of Nephrology said at least 7 million Filipinos are diagnosed with CKD.
Additionally, a 2022 study showed that the prevalence of CKD nationwide is at 35.94 percent, which means three in every 10 Filipinos suffer from the disease.
The WHO also reported in 2022 that among the cancer types, colorectal cancer is the third most common among Filipinos, with more than 20,700 cases yearly. It is the fourth cause of death nationwide, claiming about 10,700 lives annually. (PNA)