Pamilya, nabubuhay lamang sa "pagpag" — “Isang Kalahig, Isang Tuka” (Full Episode) | Kara Docs

Summary

The documentary revisits “pagpag”—discarded food recovered from rubbish and usually intended for pig feed—and finds that families still rely on it to survive. More than a decade after an earlier report on the issue, the practice appears to persist, driven by poverty and inadequate access to food.

Joy’s family

Joy, a single mother of four in Rodriguez, Rizal, supports her family partly by collecting and selling recyclable rubbish. She also brings home food scraps from nearby dumps and pig farms. The family looks for items they believe are untouched, washes them repeatedly, and then cooks them. Their meals may include hotdogs, sausages, meat, fish, or burger patties.

Joy says the food helps stretch the family’s budget. However, she worries that her children cannot eat properly and hopes they will one day no longer need pagpag.

Food waste, hunger, and health risks

The report places the family’s situation against widespread food waste and hunger. It cites United Nations figures indicating that roughly one billion tonnes of food were wasted worldwide in 2022, while about 50 million people in the Philippines were food-insecure that year.

Officials warn that food recovered from waste can carry germs and cause illness. They discourage people from eating it, even as poverty pushes some families to do so.

A health check found that Joy had a cough and that her children were small for their age, underscoring concerns about their health and nutrition. The local social welfare office provided food assistance and said the family would be monitored.

Government support

A DSWD representative described the Walang Gutom 2027 food-stamp program, which provides selected households with monthly food credits and nutrition education. The program is complemented by supplementary feeding for young children.

The documentary notes that government support can help, but is not a lasting solution unless it reaches more people consistently and addresses the underlying causes of hunger.

Presenters and contributors

Kara David; Joy; an unnamed local sanitation-office representative; an unnamed rural health doctor; and an unnamed DSWD representative.