A lawmaker may have had a eureka moment on how to solve hunger faced by poor Filipinos: "Astronaut food" in the form of a pill that could sustain a man on a 365-day space journey.

"When astronauts are in orbit, they spend days, even months, without cooking their food. Because there's none!" SAGIP Partylist Rep. Rodante Marcoleta told Science and Technology Secretary Renato Solidum.

The video of the exchange between Marcoleta and Solidum last week during the latter's confirmation hearing before the Commission on Appointments has gone viral in just a few days.

Marcoleta's foray into science drew both cheers and jeers.

"I'm thinking out loud that if we can develop the food that they (astronauts) are eating, and we give the same to our poor countrymen, then even for months without eating they would not die," Marcoleta said in a mix of English and Filipino.

Seemingly unsure of where Marcoleta's query was leading to, Solidum cocked his head and raised the distinction between astronaut food and the ready-to-eat meals for disaster victims that don't go bad in six months.

Marcoleta was quick to clarify though that the pill could just be something "palliative" to sustain life while easing stomach rumbles.

Field day
"When astronauts take them (pills), they could go on for several days, if not months. The poorest of the poor really don't have anything to eat," the congressman said.

"But if the poor take that, in two weeks, they don't have to buy food. There's no need to cook; that's a big deal," Marcoleta told Solidum.

Netizens had a field day with their double-edged one-liners, including one who said the congressman should consider going into an "astronaut diet" he was proposing so he'd fit into a space capsule's hatch.

Another described it as a "shot on the foot," akin to a proposal before the Senate lowering to 56 the age by which a person may be considered a senior citizen entitled to benefits.

Not a few said Marcoleta raised anew questions on the competency of legislators.

Hunger, however, is no laughing matter. A recent Social Weather Station poll showed that 11.3 percent of Filipino families (2.9 million people) have experienced "involuntary hunger" toward the third quarter of 2022.

Solidum assured the CA that the Department of Science and Technology would work within the framework of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s priority — food security.

He also assured Marcoleta that the DoST will look at his "astronaut food" idea with utmost seriousness.