CLAIM: The Nutribun program was a brainchild of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr.
RATING: FALSE
In a Facebook live video on Feb. 3, 2022, Ormoc City Mayor Richard Gomez justified his support for the candidacy of Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., the only son and namesake of the late Philippine dictator who was president of the country from Dec. 30, 1965 to Feb. 25, 1986, and narrated his experiences during the presidency of Marcos.
“The time na presidente pa si President Marcos, I’ve experienced ‘yung mga ginawa nila,” Gomez said. “Siguro some experienced na mga hindi maganda and so up to now, they’re against him.”
In narrating his experiences during the Marcos era, Gomez falsely claimed that the late dictator was behind the Nutribun program.
“As a young kid, I experienced na gumanda yung Roxas Boulevard, nagkaroon ng LRT (Light Rail Transit), napatayo ‘yung Philippine International Convention Center, ‘yung [Manila] Film Center. Na-experience ko ‘yung Nutribun program ni presidente,” he said.
The Nutribun program was launched in the Philippines at the height of its malnutrition problem in the 1970s. The distribution of Nutribuns in the country ran from 1971 to 1997.
It was not Marcos nor his government who was behind the Nutribun project. It was the US Agency for International Development (USAID) Nutrition and scientists from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University that were responsible for the development of the Nutribun formula.
Read the full story on Fact Checked by PressOnePH.
