ENDORSEMENT: Precious Lara Quigaman pitches for good nutrition via Bear Brand caravan

For three years now, Bear Brand has been conducting “Laki Sa Gatas” school caravans in different public elementary schools nationwide to stress their education advocacy campaign on good nutrition.

And this year, for its 2143rd stop, Bear Brand recently made a pit stop at the Zapatera Elementary School with Miss International 2005 and actress Precious Lara Quigaman.

Kristine Patricia Lee, head of marketing, promotions and events for Nestle Philippines, said that the caravan educates teachers, mothers and children on the importance of good nutrition.

“Through this campaign, we aim to promote good nutrition and right choice of food for proper diet,” she said. “However, if the mothers can’t fulfill such, we believe that milk would be a good complement because it is the most complete food that their children would need. Milk is what children need for their development.”

In a press release, Eugene David, business executive manager for Dairy, Health and Nutrition Solution of Nestle Philippines, Inc., “Laki sa Gatas” was conceptualized because of the alarming decrease in milk consumption, coupled with prevalent cases of malnutrition among Filipino children, in recent years.

The Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI) said that only 49% of children six months to five years old have milk in their diet. This was seen contrasting to the Nutritional Guidelines for Filipinos to drink at least one glass of milk a day.

What happens in the “Laki sa Gatas” caravan is that three activities are launched simultaneously. The participants are grouped into three: parents, teachers and children. In the mothers’ session, Maria Venus Bangot, a registered nutritionist dietician talked about how to make the right food choices, importance of basic nutrients, and taught on how drinking adequate amount of milk provides children vitamins and minerals for growth and development.

In the teachers’ session, the teachers are taught how to identify malnutrition cases and discuss ways and action plans to help their students. These teachers play an important role in assuring the good health of their students so they can participate well in school activities.

Finally, the grades 1 and 2 pupils are treated to an edutainment with Bear Brand’s two mascots, Mama Bear and Kuya Bear. The children get to play games, art projects and storytelling sessions. The children then take home two glasses, in them are their drawings of their dreams and ambitions.

During the children’s session, Bear Brand’s latest Ambassador Precious Lara Quigaman dropped by to give a special message to the kids.

“Alam nyo hindi hadlang ang pagiging mahirap para makamit natin ang ating mga pangarap. Hindi rin kami ganoon ka yaman noon pero dahil sa good nutrition, nakamit ko ang mga pangarap ko,” she said, sharing her past life experiences when she was still a kid.

In a separate interview, Lara recounted how she succeeded over the challenges in her life through proper nutrition. Her mother was a vendor who sold goods in the public market while her deceased father was a construction worker before becoming an OFW.

Although she admits that back then, she doesn’t like milk that much.

“Noon, ayoko talaga ng milk. Hindi ko gusto ‘yong lasa. In fact, I was forced to drink milk. And I got used to it. Okay naman kasi ‘yung milk [as it’s a] good source of calcium,” she smiled.

The beauty queen was chosen as a Bear Brand ambassador because “Lara is an embodiment of someone who succeeded in life. Nagtuloy-tuloy kasi siya sa buhay despite the challenges in her life,” Lee said.

And about the milk scare issue?

Lee assured, “Bear Brand is one of those products cleared off the list. Right now, we’re communicating to consumers na hindi sila dapat matakot. We’re confident naman about it kasi all of our products in Nestle come from Australia, New Zealand, Europe and the United States.”