ecological footprint of the national capital region...

Philippine Journal of Science141 (1): 67-75, June 2012ISSN 0031 - 7683Date Received: 29 Sep 2011

Key Words: Ecological footprint, environment, nutrition, sustainability

*Corresponding author: [email protected] [email protected]

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Michael E. Serafico*, Marilen M. Espinoza, Leah A. Perlas,and Celeste C. Tanchoco

Ecological Footprint of the National Capital Region Households: Bridging the Gap Between Nutrition and Environment

Food and Nutrition Research Institute, Department of Science and TechnologyDOST Complex, Gen. Santos Avenue, Bicutan, Taguig City,

Metro Manila, Philippines

The impact/influence of environmental conditions on the nutritional status of the National Capital Region (NCR) households in the Philippines was studied. Ecological Footprint (EF), an indicator that measures how much nature is used to produce resources and to absorb wastes by means of existing technologies and thereby translates it in terms of land area, was utilized to assess each household’s consumption pattern. A questionnaire was prepared to obtain the data needed to utilize the EF worksheet developed by Wackernagel and Rees. Body Mass Index (BMI) was used to assess the nutritional status of the household members. Data on weight and height of each household member were taken from the 7th National Nutrition Survey (NNS) conducted by the Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI) in 2008. The calculated EF of the NCR was 4.6666 global hectares per person (gha/person). Quezon City topped the list with 1.2048 gha/person while the only city living within the sustainable limits of its boundaries was Mandaluyong City with 0.4143 gha/person. The highest consumption category contributing to the total EF of all cities was the food category while pasture and arable lands topped the land-use components. About 60% of the participants lived within the city’s resources and 70% had normal BMI. A significant correlation was recognized between the nutritional status of the population studied and the environment in terms of EF. Household size was found to be a factor for both EF and nutritional status.

INTRODUCTIONAs more developing countries like the Philippines are geared towards industrialization, the implementation of various activities requires drastic transformations in order to support the unstable economy. Consequently, these rapid processes of change alter the relationships between humans and the ecosystems. These modifications have dietary implications. In fact, disruption in environmental integrity as a result of development affects patterns of

human health, disease and nutritional status (Johns and Eyzaguirre 2001).

Among the major environmental disturbances affecting humans are ecosystem destruction due to industrial, commercial and agricultural development, climate change, urbanization and loss of biological resources. As the latter is the basis for human food systems and is simultaneously affected by other disturbances, it plays a central role both in terms of dietary change and to potential solutions (Johns 2003).

Serafico ME et al.: Bridging the Gap Between Nutrition and Environment

Philippine Journal of ScienceVol. 141 No. 1, June 2012

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The destruction of ecosystems due to anthropogenic activities have the most direct impact and could be the source of other negative outcomes that affect the well being of humans. Various studies have documented that the improper management and disposal of industrial, agricultural and domestic wastes have contributed in the deterioration of the environment (Brisson 1993; Islam et al. 2004). These wastes when disposed on soils can either make the soil infertile or be taken in by plants, or may even reach the groundwater table.

On the other hand, when these wastes are disposed in bodies of water, the quality of water will most likely be less conducive to sustain life. In addition, the interaction of these wastes and other species living in these bodies of water can reduce the consumption of an important micronutrient source, not only by killing the species outright, but also by making these species inedible.

Furthermore, deforestation, combustion of fossil fuels, and production of agricultural commodities such as rice and livestock have caused atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases to rise significantly. Consequently, the earth’s average temperature increases which leads to the climate change phenomenon. Climate change could have far-reaching effects on patterns of development, trade among nations, and food security.

Urbanization coupled with increasing population intensifies the challenge of obtaining adequate nutrition in a sustainable manner. Urban population places heavy strains on the environment through market demands and through pollution associated with industrial growth and urban wastes. In this situation, the urban poor are doubly affected by deficiencies in diet and by the negative consequences of living in harmful conditions (Johns and Eyzaguirre 2001).

Although there is an existing causal relationship between the environment and nutrition (Unicef.org), these two areas are continuously treated separately. To date, no local studies have been conducted to relate the influence of the environmental conditions to the nutritional status of a population.

In an effort to establish a relationship between the impact of the environment to nutritional adequacy, ecological footprint (EF), an indicator that measures how much nature is used to produce resources and to absorb wastes by means of existing technologies (WWF-Italia, 2002), was utilized alongside body mass index (BMI) as a measure of nutritional status.

The EF concept is simple, yet potentially comprehensive. It accounts for the flows of energy and matter to and from a defined economy and converts these into the corresponding land area required to support these flows. It assesses the

sustainability of current human activities and considers humanity’s continuing dependence on nature and what we can do to secure the planet’s capacity to support human existence in the future (Wackernagel and Rees 1996).

This study, therefore, aimed to establish the relationship between environment and nutritional adequacy among the National Capital Region (NCR) households from the 2008 7th National Nutrition Survey (NNS). Specifically, it aimed to estimate the resources consumed and wastes generated by the NCR households, identify which of the components and categories has the largest share in the total EF, and correlate the total EF to the nutritional adequacy of the population.

It is hoped that the results of this study will bring awareness and interest among policy makers, nutritionists and the Filipino people regarding the importance of sustainability as a factor to possess and maintain a healthy mind, body and environment.

MATERIAL AND METHODSData were taken from the 7th NNS which utilized the National Statistics Office’s (NSO) Labor Force Survey (LFS) sampling frame. The 2008 LFS and the 7th NNS adopted the stratified multi-stage sampling design, covering all regions and provinces of the country.

Since this is a sub-study particularly concerned on NCR’s EF, the questionnaire was handled by the team surveying for regional estimates. The questionnaire was prepared based on the Wackernagel-Reese worksheet (1996). It included multiple choice questions for food consumption, housing materials and lot size, transportation, and possession of goods, and supply type kinds of questions for services used such as electricity, water, telephone and internet. The questionnaire employed the use of the Filipino language for better understanding of the respondents. It was pre-tested for its length, comprehensibility of the questions and ease in answering them.

The questionnaire was self-administered but researchers were able to answer clarifications upon retrieval of the same. Responses per household were transferred in the worksheet which automatically calculates the ecological footprint in per capita units.

Consumption DataA questionnaire was prepared to obtain the data needed to calculate the EF of each NCR household based on the worksheet developed by Matthis Wackernagel and William Rees (1996). Through the program, the data were converted into a year’s consumption, processed using equivalence and correction factors (WWF, 2006 and



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Kitzes et. al., 2007) and generated ecological footprint value in units of global hectares per person.

The consumption was classified into five (5) categories consisting of housing, goods, mobility, services and foods.

Housing defines what material is the house made of, how big is the floor area, presence of a garden area and what proportion of this area has edible plants. Included here are the monthly expenditures on water and electricity.

Goods category consisted of clothing, personal and health products, appliances and tobacco while mobility covered possession of private vehicle or mode of transportation.

Services such as telephone and internet were recorded based on monthly consumption. In addition, family expenditures on medical consultation, watching movies and concerts, education and securing of properties were included in this category.

Food consumption data covered foods that are commonly consumed by Filipinos such as rice and cereal products, meat, poultry, fish, fruits and vegetables and dairy products.

The questionnaire was handed in to participating households of the 7th NNS and was answered by the household head. The answers were encoded to a revised worksheet for Philippine setting to calculate the EF of the households, cities, and the entire region.

Equivalence and correction factors were used to obtain global hectares (gha) unit. Equivalence factor translates a specific land type into a universal unit of biologically productive area, gha. Values from the Living Planet Report (WWF 2006) and from Kitzes et. al. (2007) were adopted for this study. Assumptions were made for some data that need conversions to suit the model.

Anthropometric DataData on weight and height measurements, and body mass index (BMI) of all members of the participating households during the 7th NNS were copied from the Anthropometric Component of the NNS. BMI was classified per member according to the categories underweight, normal and overweight based on the criteria set by the World Health Organization for children aged 0 – 19 years old (WHO, 2006) and for adults (WHO 1993).

Data AnalysisDescriptive statistics was used to describe the frequencies of EFs and BMI classifications per city. Analysis of variance was applied to compare the ecological footprints of each NCR cities. Bivariate correlation analysis was employed to determine if there is a significant relationship between nutritional status and EF values. A p level

less than 0.05 (p<0.05) was considered significant. All statistical analyses were performed using SPSS version 9.0 (SPSS, Inc., Chicago IL).

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONThe National Capital Region is composed of sixteen (16) cities and a single municipality. Owing to the different land area and total population, disparity in the number of household sample per city can be observed. Table 1 shows the land area, population, number of participating households and sample population per city.

Quezon City, having the biggest land area (166.2 sq. km.), had the highest population at 2.67 million residents and comprised 17% of NCR’s participating households. Other cities that give shelter to more than a million residents were Manila and Caloocan. On the other hand, the least populated city was San Juan (4.5 sq. km.) with less than 150,000 residents. Altogether, the study consisted of 740 sample households covering 3,794 residents.

Ecological FootprintsIn the Living Planet Report 2008 of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF 2008), the Philippines had a total EF of over 0.9 global hectares per person (gha/person), with a deficit of 0.4 gha/person. This puts the Philippines in the top ten nations in the Asia-Pacific Region included in the ecological debtors countries. This means that Filipinos consumed the Philippine resources more than what the country can offer.

In this study, the total EF of the National Capital Region was 4.6666 gha/person. Compared to the global EF share of 2.1 gha per person, this result indicates that Filipinos living in NCR utilized greater amount of products and services more than what an average person globally would consume. Translating this value to land estimates without the correction and equivalence factors, the total EF (5.2228 ha) may be a bit smaller than the Manila Zoological and Botanical Garden (5.5 ha).

With the Philippines having a total biocapacity of 0.5 gha per person (WWF 2008), it is demonstrated that except for Mandaluyong City, all the cities in the NCR were outside the sustainable limits of their boundaries (Figure 1). This means that taking into consideration the means available for the city populace, only Mandaluyong City residents consume the preferably necessary amounts to support the needs of the city and keep the remaining resources emergent for the consumption of future generations. Thus, the cities of NCR were among the cities in the list of ecological debtors that will eventually face an increasing risk from a growing dependence on the biological capacity of others.



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Statistical analysis showed that the EF of the cities was significantly different from each other (95% CI: 0.5459 – 0.5837 gha/person). This demonstrates that each city has different priorities in terms of food consumption, possession of goods, materials used in building houses, transportation and services needed. Somehow, this benefits the sustainability of NCR since not all cities are in the extreme end of utilizing the resources of the environment.

Results can further provide helpful information for each city on how to address sustainability issues in their respective localities. For instance, policy makers can evaluate their city data based on consumption category or on land-use component and offer doable and feasible course of action accordingly.

Consumption CategoriesThe highest consumption category contributing to the total EF of all cities was the food category (Figure 2). Food consumption made up a relatively high proportion of the total EF for the NCR, which was 4.4040 gha/person followed by the services footprint with 0.1301 gha/person (Table 2). This illustrates that NCR residents place most of their budget for food. Thus, food category alone exceeded the Philippine total biocapacity of 0.5 gha/person.

Following food consumption category was the services footprint which covers telephone, medical insurance and services, education and entertainment expenditures. In reality, these services masticate a large portion of the family’s monthly budget.

Without the correction and equivalence factors, the food footprint would be 5.1166 ha. To illustrate, if translated to actual land estimate, food footprint alone will cover an area slightly larger than the University of the East in Caloocan City (4.86 ha). This means that in 2008, about 5 ha of land area was utilized for the resources consumed by a single person living in the NCR.

Food consumption and service acquisition among residents of all the NCR cities did not differ significantly. This proved that city residents did not vary in their interests. Food, being a basic necessity, was given the highest priority. This may be generally true for the Philippines since most Filipinos secure their whole day’s meal first before putting in their budget to other needs. This result also showed that within a span of five years, the NCR households did not change its top priority based on a report on the 2003 EF of NCR households of the same authors (Espinoza et. al. 2008).

In order to lessen the strain contributed by the food category to the total NCR EF, residents must become

Table 1. Profile of the sixteen cities in the National Capital Region (NCR), Philippines.

City Land Area (sq. km.)a Populationb Sample Household Sample Population

Caloocan 55.8 1,381,610 114 571

Las Piñas 41.5 532,330 25 135

Makati 29.9 548,983 41 225

Malabon 23.4 363,681 13 76

Mandaluyong 26.0 305,576 15 64

Manila 38.3 1,660,714 112 586

Marikina 38.9 424,610 25 116

Muntinlupa 46.7 452,943 32 165

Navotas 8.9 245,344 12 56

Parañaque 38.3 552,660 47 240

Pasay 13.9 403,064 47 230

Pasig 31.0 627,445 32 162

Paterosc 2.1 61,940 11 44

Quezon 166.2 2,679,450 126 669

San Juan 4.5 125,338 5 22

Taguig 33.7 613,343 35 182

Valenzuela 47.0 568,928 48 251

NCR 646.1 11,496,461 740 3794a ncr.dilg.gov.phb National Statistics Office, 2007 Census of Populationc Municipality



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aware and sensitive to the environmental impact of habitual eating out. Existing campaigns to buy locally produced products must be strengthened and supported. Policies on importation of food products should be well

analyzed before passing into law. Healthy options should always be alongside other choices in markets and groceries (e.g. footprint of the product can be included in the label).

Figure 1. Ecological footprints of the cities in the National Capital Region (NCR), Philippines.

Figure 2. Ecological footprint of National Capital Region (NCR) according to consumption category.



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Services footprint, which includes education and medical concerns, trailed behind the food consumption category. These exhibited the nature of Filipinos to give their children good education and proper nutrition. However, results may not be noticeably felt considering the current nutritional status of the Filipino children because the buying power of the remaining budget limits the choices of foods purchased. Provisions on the use of school uniform in public schools attested to the importance of education over other matters. Nevertheless, most parents will express that education is the best legacy they can leave behind their children.

Top cities spending high on services included Pateros, Makati, Parañaque, Las Piñas and Valenzuela (Table 2).

Based on this study, most residents put their hard-earned money on education, health and household insurance and services. Policies on better education, improved health and insurance benefits should be addressed to optimize the utility of these services and consequently reduce their strains to the environment.

Electricity consumption depends on the electrical appliances a household owns. Rich residents can afford to have air-conditioning units, computers and other appliances that are absent in marginalized residents. On the other hand, water consumption depends on the availability of a water system to provide residents with

clean water for daily utilization. Still, there were places in the metropolitan area where water systems have not been in placed. Las Piñas City with 0.1659 gha/person top the list on the housing footprint while the city of Navotas was the least with 0.0641 gha/person (Table 2).

Surprisingly, mobility’s and goods’ shares to the NCR consumption patterns did not make any weight on the total EF. The mobility footprint failed to account the expenses for most cities because the residents use bicycles or walk to and from work. While this was unlikely to significantly influence the overall footprint value, it highlighted the fact that adoption of a more complex questionnaire to extract the data needed for the calculation procedure is required.

Goods listed in the questionnaire included clothing, medicine, tobacco and cleaning agents such as shampoo and conditioner, bath soap, laundry detergent and powder, and dishwashing paste and liquid. Differences among cities may be due to variability in household sizes and the age of the household members and consequently, on their age and work or school needs. Pateros, the lone municipality in the NCR, recorded the highest goods footprint (0.0440 gha/person) followed by Taguig and Parañaque with 0.0394 and 0.0339 gha/person, respectively (Table 2).

Table 2. Area for each consumption category per city in the National Capital Region (NCR), Philippines expressed in global hectares per person (gha/person).

City Food Housing Mobility Goods Services Total EF

Caloocan 0.6843 0.0867 0.0007 0.0146 0.0645 0.8509

Las Piñas 0.4176 0.1659 0.0006 0.0317 0.1872 0.8030

Makati 0.6931 0.1571 0.0001 0.0233 0.2621 1.1357

Malabon 0.2742 0.1008 0.0005 0.0191 0.1701 0.5646

Mandaluyong 0.2670 0.0779 0.0004 0.0215 0.0476 0.4143

Manila 0.9873 0.1058 0.0003 0.0181 0.0823 1.1938

Marikina 0.5533 0.1146 0.0000 0.0178 0.0684 0.7543

Muntinlupa 0.4980 0.0920 0.0007 0.0241 0.1449 0.7598

Navotas 0.3210 0.0641 0.0000 0.0068 0.1117 0.5036

Parañaque 0.6083 0.1306 0.0002 0.0339 0.1933 0.9663

Pasay 0.6337 0.1235 0.0003 0.0272 0.1443 0.9291

Pasig 0.4324 0.1207 0.0003 0.0266 0.1393 0.7192

Pateros 0.4147 0.1622 0.0051 0.0440 0.3761 1.0021

Quezon 0.9497 0.1029 0.0002 0.0210 0.1310 1.2048

San Juan 0.4779 0.1077 0.0034 0.0256 0.0547 0.6693

Taguig 0.4861 0.1209 0.0002 0.0394 0.1094 0.7560

Valenzuela 0.6144 0.0974 0.0002 0.0186 0.1711 0.9017

NCR 4.4040 0.1099 0.0003 0.0223 0.1301 4.6666



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Figure 3. Ecological footprint of the National Capital Region (NCR), Philippines according to land-use component.

Land-Use ComponentsPasture land occupied the largest portion (48%) in the total EF followed by the arable land (43%), indicating that more land masses of these types are required to support the regeneration of resources consumed by the NCR households in 2008 (Figure 3). These resulted as a consequence of the high consumption of food as exhibited in the previous discussion on EF according to consumption category. Highest contribution to the component was

brought about by eating out and on large intakes of beef and beef products.

All land-use components among the NCR cities did not differ significantly except for the arable land type. This meant that even though all the cities have high food consumption, food choices among the residents varied significantly. Also, individual possession of clothing and use of tobacco and cigarettes may have contributed on the result.

Table 3. Area for each land-use components per city in the National Capital Region (NCR), Philippines expressed in global hectares per person (gha/person).

City Fossil Energy Land

Arable Land

Pasture Land Forest Built-up

Land Sea Total EF

Caloocan 0.13 0.26 0.23 0.05 0.01 0.12 0.85Las Piñas 0.29 0.10 0.12 0.09 0.03 0.17 0.80Makati 0.31 0.18 0.25 0.13 0.03 0.24 1.14Malabon 0.24 0.05 0.05 0.05 0.02 0.16 0.56Mandaluyong 0.12 0.04 0.04 0.04 0.01 0.17 0.41Manila 0.17 0.36 0.40 0.05 0.01 0.21 1.19Marikina 0.17 0.09 0.12 0.04 0.01 0.31 0.75Muntinlupa 0.21 0.12 0.15 0.05 0.02 0.21 0.76Navotas 0.16 0.05 0.07 0.03 0.02 0.18 0.50Parañaque 0.28 0.18 0.18 0.07 0.03 0.23 0.97Pasay 0.25 0.18 0.22 0.05 0.02 0.20 0.93Pasig 0.21 0.10 0.11 0.08 0.02 0.20 0.72Pateros 0.36 0.07 0.08 0.22 0.03 0.23 1.00Quezon 0.20 0.39 0.31 0.07 0.02 0.22 1.20San Juan 0.18 0.06 0.06 0.03 0.01 0.33 0.67Taguig 0.21 0.12 0.13 0.06 0.02 0.22 0.76Valenzuela 0.23 0.19 0.21 0.06 0.02 0.19 0.90

NCR 0.20 1.97 2.21 0.06 0.02 0.21 4.67



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Highest contributors to the pasture and arable land components were Manila City (0.4017 gha/person) and Quezon City (0.3942 gha/person), respectively. Fossil energy land, a hypothetical land type necessary to absorb the carbon dioxide produced by direct energy consumption included in other goods, covered 4% of the land-use components, the same with the sea component. Among the cities, Pateros had the highest share in fossil energy land followed by Makati, Las Piñas and Parañaque. Conversely, San Juan City topped the contributors to the sea component while the least was recorded in Malabon City (Table 3).

Although food choices directly influence the type of land-use component stressed, still cooking foods at home or purchasing local produce will make a lot of difference.

Table 4. Correlation among EF class, BMI, and household size

Variable EF class BMI Household size

EF class 1 0.207*(p=0.000)

-0.213*(p=0.000)

BMI0.207*

(p=0.000) 1 -0.138*(p=0.000)

Household size -0.213*(p=0.000)

-0.138*(p=0.000) 1

*Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed)

Besides reducing the pasture and arable land components, this provides less transportation costs consequently decreasing the strain on fossil-energy and built-up lands.

Environment and NutritionOf the 3,794 participants, only 3,037 with complete data on EF and BMI were included in the correlation analysis between environment and nutrition. Table 4 shows that the correlation between EF (cut off ≤ 0.5 gha/person) and BMI was highly significant (p = 0.000). This result indicates that the environment may be associated to the overall nutritional status of a person, that is, in terms of BMI.

Simply stated, a person who spends more on personal (food, clothing and shelter) and household (electricity, water, etc.) needs which consequently produces higher EF, will more conceivably obtain a higher BMI. This suggests a direct association of environmental factors to the nutritional status of the study participants.

The negative correlation (-0.213, p=0.000) between ecological footprint and household size suggests that households with less family members may have spent beyond what they should ideally consume, therefore, resulting to higher ecological footprints.

Results also showed that households with fewer members

are more likely to have more family members with normal BMI as reflected by the negative correlation between the two variables (-0.138, p=0.000). This may be based on the fact that bigger household sizes tend to allot smaller serving portions to each member for the resources to suffice. Having this result, the family planning campaign of the government should be strengthened.

A smaller family will likely live in a sustainable environment if they will spend their resources just enough for their needs. In addition, since a smaller family will most possibly be well provided in terms of food, shelter and clothing, the members will consequently have better nutritional status.

About 70% of the population surveyed has a normal BMI. This was comparable to the percentage (60.5%) of all participants with EF less than the total Philippine biocapacity of 0.5 gha/person. However, the fact that 70.5% of the population surveyed had a normal BMI albeit ecological overshoot in more than 95% of the cities may suggest that consumption patterns were just right for the population to be nutritionally fit.

Furthermore, the 20% overweight which is far less than the world’s average overweight rate of 33% (Cunningham, 2010) may not be big enough to illustrate that the NCR households consumed more than enough of their needs.

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONMajority of the residents surveyed showed a kind of living that is way above their needs. That is why about 95% of the NCR cities are now living in unsustainable environment. If the consumption patterns of the residents continue, NCR would be at risk of being dependent on the resources of nearby regions, or worse, neighboring countries.

Sustainability measured by the EF strategy promises a new door to examine the strains contributed by different consumption categories and their corresponding land-use components. As applied in this study, the immensity of consumption was singularly pointing towards the food category. Campaigns on buying locally produced food products and cooking at home should be encouraged and supported.

The land components mostly used were the pasture and arable lands which consequently resulted from the high consumption of foods. More land masses of these types are required to support the regeneration of resources consumed by the NCR households in 2008.

Results suggest that, in a significant path, EF is related to the nutritional status of the population studied.



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Furthermore, the importance of family planning and wise spending appeared to be a factor to be nutritionally fit and to support a sustainable environment, respectively.

Putting preference to fish and fish products would be an environment-friendly and a healthier choice since it will eventually place a sea component parallel to the arable and pasture lands. Furthermore, information sources such as the Nutritional Guidelines for the Filipinos and the Food Pyramid Guide to provide guidance on the appropriate food choice, should be basically accessible to the public especially home-makers and food concessionaires.

The comparison between the EFs of urban and rural areas and among the 17 regions of the Philippines is highly recommended to assess if the entire archipelago is living within the sustainable limits of its boundaries.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTThis work was supported by the Food and Nutrition Research Institute via the 7th National Nutrition Survey Fund. The authors wish to thank Ms. Corazon M. Cerdeña, the team leaders and the field researchers who surveyed the National Capital Region for the distribution, retrieval and return of the questionnaires, Ms. Lilibeth Dasco for the anthropometric data, Mr. Herbert Patalen for merging the EF and anthropometric data and Ms. Revelita Cheong for helping the researchers in statistical interpretations. Gratitude is also extended to the members of the Technical Committee for their suggestions on improving the report. Special thank is given to Dr. Matthis Wackernagel and his team for the use of the EF worksheet.

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