9-year-old fights sugary drinks with 'Soda Slayer'

Chip Gatmaytan is not your average nine-year-old. Apart from playing video games and taking taekwondo lessons, Chip is also busy being "Soda Slayer" — his campaign to help kids and adults stop drinking sugary drinks, especially soft drinks. 

 

"We came up with the Soda Slayer so he can inform people about the bad effects of soda," Chip told GMA News Online in an interview on April 4.

 

Chip has never tasted soft drinks, although some of his classmates drink soft drinks. "It annoys me," says Chip, who isn't shy about speaking his mind.

 

Listening to Chip, it's easy to see how he successfully convinces others to quit drinking sugary drinks, or at least start thinking about it.

 

"Cancer, anxiety, depression, hyperactivity, memory loss, neural disorders, diabetes, and tooth decay," Chip rattles off when asked to give some examples of soda's bad effects.

 

Through the online campaign, Chip informs people using videos and posters, which he says were made with help from a friend of his mother, Cielo Magno.

 

"One of my mom's friends made the art," he says.

 

Soda Slayer was launched early this year, but since 2011, Chip has been lobbying Congress to pass a law that will ban soft drinks and other sugary drinks in school canteens.

 

Chip shares that the campaign was his idea for MI Kids Can, a project at the Multiple Intelligence International School in Quezon City, where he and his younger brother are students.

 

"MI Kids Can, that's where they let kids at the school make a difference in the society of the Philippines," Chip says.

 

"The first thing that came to my mind is that I wanted to ban soft drinks. Because they are unhealthy," explains Chip, who first learned about the bad effects of soft drinks as a kindergarten student in St. Mary of the Assumption Elementary School in Boston. Chip was born in the Philippines, but spent almost five years in the United States.

 

"They were teaching us not to drink unhealthy drinks because of an anti-obesity campaign," says Chip.  

To Congress

 

When Chip decided to work on the campaign in the Philippines, he used Google to gather more information about the bad effects of sugar. “The next thing we did is that we went to the House of Representatives and filed my bill with the Congressmen, and Kaka Bag-ao and Walden Bello, they both filed my bill," says Chip.

 

As of 2012, House Bill 4268 was still lodged in the House Committee on Welfare of Children, according to Bag-ao. 

 

Meanwhile, its counterpart Senate Bill 3134, or the Healthy Beverage Options Act of 2011, was filed by Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago in February 2012.

 

"The bill will actually ban the sale of soda and other sugary drinks," Chip's father, Atty. Dan Gatmaytan, explains.

 

"And energy drinks!" Chip adds. His father nods, sharing that they only found out about the dangers of energy drinks because of Soda Slayer.

 

"We didn't even know that when he was playing football and we were making him drink that. And then this campaign started and we started looking at all the labels," he says.

 

Atty. Gatmaytan notes that although the Department of Education has an administrative order banning the sale of soft drinks in public schools, enforcement is a problem.

 

"They go around public schools and they see public schools selling soft drinks. That's why we feel like we need a law, in order to protect the health of our children," says Atty. Gatmaytan.

 

He shares that they hope Chip's bill will help keep Filipino kids healthy. In the explanatory note of SB 3134, Santiago cites Coca-Cola's 2005 report, which stated the Philippines consumed 151 8-ounce servings of Coke beverages per capita annually.

 

"This is way above the global average consumption of Coca-cola soft drinks at 77 servings," Santiago wrote, noting that the increasing demand for soft drinks is great news in terms of investment, but not good for public health. 

 

"During our time, we had nothing but soft drinks. Break time, it's the only thing they sold. And I don't think we have to put other generations after what we went through," Chip's father says.

 

Chip jumps up eagerly when we talk about his next goal — meeting President Benigno Aquino III.

 

"Yes, yes, yes!" he says when asked if he thinks he'll be able to meet Aquino.

 

"Dear Mr. President, please ban unhealthy drinks, because unhealthy drinks are bad. And make children's health your priority," is Chip's message to Pnoy.

 

Although the Chip's campaign has yet to result in a law, his efforts are already making a difference, including in his own home.

 

"His lola was a real Coke fan, but she stopped now. Because of his mere presence," Atty. Gatmaytan says, as Chip shows his superpower moves.

 

In an interview on News to Go, Chip urges kids to stop drinking soft drinks.

 

"Please stop drinking soft drinks because soft drinks are not healthy for you and they have a lot of dangerous things in it that can harm you and make you sick," Chip says. Instead of drinking sugary drinks, Chip recommends his favorite — mango juice. —KG, GMA News

 

For more information, visit Soda Slayer on Facebook.