We demand a healthier future: Pass the Healthy Food Environment (HFE) Bill NOW!

We demand a healthier future: Pass the Healthy Food Environment (HFE) Bill NOW!

Sign NOW!

The HFE Bill is a vital step toward protecting Filipino families and children from the rising burden of obesity, diabetes, chronic kidney disease, and other diet-related diseases. By mandating warning labels, restricting harmful food marketing, and keeping schools safe from unhealthy promotions, the bill empowers consumers to make informed choices and holds the food industry accountable.

We need your help to achieve this. Every Filipino deserves a food environment that puts health over profit. Let’s sign the petition together and call on our legislators to pass the HFE Bill for a healthier future for all!

The HFE Bill is a vital step toward protecting Filipino families and children from the rising burden of obesity, diabetes, chronic kidney disease, and other diet-related diseases. By mandating warning labels, restricting harmful food marketing, and keeping schools safe from unhealthy promotions, the bill empowers consumers to make informed choices and holds the food industry accountable.

We need your help to achieve this. Every Filipino deserves a food environment that puts health over profit. Let’s sign the petition together and call on our legislators to pass the HFE Bill for a healthier future for all!

Sign the petition to pass the HFE Bill!

To the Honorable Chairpersons, vice-chairpersons, and members of the House Committee on Health and Committee on Welfare of Children,

We urge our legislators to take immediate action in preventing childhood overweight, obesity, and premature deaths due to noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) by enacting the Healthy Food Environment Bill. [1]

We believe that:

  1. Children should grow up in food environments that support their health and enable healthy eating habits;
  2. Food warning labels are necessary for quick, easy-to-understand nutrition information;
  3. Every Filipino deserves protection from misleading food marketing; and
  4. Public policy must prioritize the long-term health of the entire Filipino population over corporate profit.

Why this matters

NCDs account for at least half of all deaths in the Philippines [2], and they are now affecting children earlier and more severely than ever. Obesity alone is impacting Filipinos across all age groups [3], while hypertension rates continue to climb [4] and chronic kidney disease is striking patients at increasingly younger ages. [5]

Aggressive marketing by the food and beverage industry, combined with confusing nutrition labels, has created a food environment where Filipinos struggle to make healthy and informed food choices that will help prevent NCDs. Nutrition information is too technical for average consumers, and this weakness is compounded by aggressive marketing of products  high in sugar, sodium, or unhealthy fats—especially to children. 

This is a systemic failure, and it demands systemic reform.

The HFE Bill addresses these issues squarely. Front-of-pack warning labels (FOPWL) will give consumers clear and quick guidance on what food must be avoided, [6] and restrictions on child-targeted marketing would help prevent early development of unhealthy eating habits.

These reforms can help curb the rising cases of noncommunicable diseases in the Philippines—conditions that continue to burden households and the national economy. [7]

Countries like Chile, Mexico, and Argentina have already shown that strong warning labels and marketing restrictions lead to healthier choices and product reformulation. The Philippines can do the same.

We need to act now.

Legislative momentum is growing—with more than 80 lawmakers supporting the bills and more expressing their commitment. A healthy food environment for Filipinos is now within reach, and the power to make this change is in your hands.

The message is clear: protecting Filipino families, especially children, from preventable diseases starts with transforming the food environment. We currently have an opportunity to create a better and healthier food environment for all Filipinos by passing the HFE/FOPWL bills. 

Please pass the HFE/FOPWL now!

 ______________________

[1] Filed in the 20th Congress as House Bill nos. 130, 560, 819, 2660, 6097, 6166, 6333, 6392, 6506, 6507, 6806, 6834, 6932, 7119, 7409, 7687, 8228, 8232, 8290, and 8416.

[2]  The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. (2021). Global Burden of Disease (GBD). Healthdata.org. https://www.healthdata.org/research-analysis/gbd

[3]  Food and Nutrition Research Institute, Department of Science and Technology. (2024). 2023 Expanded National Nutrition Survey (ENNS). DOST-FNRI. https://enutrition.fnri.dost.gov.ph/

[4] Sison, J. A., Cawed-Mende, R. M., Oliva, R. V., & Reyes, M. (2021). Prevalence, awareness, and treatment profile of adult Filipino hypertensive individuals: Philippine Heart Association–Council on Hypertension report on survey of hypertension (PRESYON-4). Philippine Journal of Cardiology, 49(2), 53–68. https://pjc.philheart.org/elib/journal/identifier/pjc.2021.0712.053068/pdf

[5] Baron, G. (2025). Millions of Filipinos at risk of kidney disease. Daily Tribune. https://tribune.net.ph/2025/06/24/millions-of-filipinos-at-risk-of-kidney-disease

[6]  The FOPWL Bills (filed as House Bill nos. 2541, 5553, 6050, and 7756) also mandate this intervention.

[7] Prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases in the Philippines: The case for investment. (n.d.). UNDP. https://www.undp.org/philippines/publications/prevention-and-control-noncommunicable-diseases-philippines-case-investment

How we use the data you enter on this form

By signing this petition, you agree to share your personal information (such as your name, email, and organization) with the HFE Coalition for the following purposes:

  1. To keep you informed about campaign updates, advocacy milestones, and upcoming events;
  2. To mobilize public support for policy reforms that protect children and families from diet-related diseases;
  3. To report anonymized data (e.g., number of signatories, regional support) to policymakers and partners.

 We will never sell, trade, or misuse your data. Your information will be stored securely and used only for advocacy-related communications. You may opt out or request deletion of your data at any time by contacting us at [email protected] or [email protected].

 

Together, we’re building a healthier, more transparent future—and it starts with trust.

Do Gooder (the advocacy platform powering this online action) processes personal information from you that you enter on this form so that we can provide the functions and related services to you and The Campaigner (the organisation responsible for this online action) for their legitimate purposes, including possibly exporting it to other systems, and to effectively respond to enquiries and communications related to those services.

Specifically when you enter:

  • Your location data (residential address or postcode) it is used to locate your elected representative, to pre-populate your email signature and to provide The Campaigner with a visualisation of the location of the support for this campaign.

  • All other data you may enter, including your email address, name, telephone number, commentary and so on is used by The Campaigner to advocate for the campaign’s goals and where required may be sent to the target of the campaign.

The data collected by Do Gooder is also used by us in aggregate form to improve the service and may be held on your behalf outside your country of residence by our third party service providers. These providers are bound by contract to only use personal information on our behalf, in accordance with agreed terms. While the privacy laws of the country in which personal information is stored or transferred may be different from those in your country, we will always have safeguards in place when storing or transferring personal information. We will never sell, rent, loan or in any other way pass your information on to other parties other than to provide this service to you and The Campaigner.

The personal information collected by Do Gooder is held subject to a Data Processing Agreement between Do Gooder and The Campaigner in compliance with the EU's GDPR and Australian law.

Learn more about our privacy policy here

How is my data used?