A senior official of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) on Monday (September 18) clarified that the WALANG GUTOM 2027: Food Stamp Program (FSP) is a program that addresses food insecurity, which is completely different from the objectives of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps).

During the second Nutrition Education Session and third Market Day of 50 pilot beneficiaries of the FSP in Tondo, Manila, DSWD Undersecretary for Innovations Eduardo M. Punay addressed the queries of the media on the two government programs.

“Ang 4Ps po ay intended o ang objective nito is to break the intergenerational poverty cycle. So ang focus noon ay sa education ng mga bata at health ng mga bata. Ang ating Food Stamp Program o ang Walang Gutom 2027 ay inintroduce po ng bagong administrasyon ni Pangulong Bongbong Marcos, para po i-address and food insecurity sa bansa natin,” Usec. Punay explained.

(The 4Ps is intended or its objective is to break the intergenerational poverty cycle. So it focuses on children’s education and children’s health. The Food Stamp Program or the Walang Gutom 2027, which was introduced by the new administration of President Bongbong Marcos, is to address food insecurity in our country.)

Usec. Punay pointed out that the conditionalities of the FSP are also in line with the initiatives of the Marcos administration for a whole-of-nation approach in addressing poverty and hunger in the country.

Some of the conditionalities is the attendance to the nutrition education sessions to help the beneficiaries to purchase and cook nutritious meals for their families; the active participation in skills training from the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA); and attendance to job fairs sponsored by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).

“Mayroon po tayong mga conditions dito sa ating programa kasi ang target po natin, ang objective po natin, apart from mabigyan sila ng karampatang pagkain sa pang-araw araw, ito po ay maturuan po sila na maging self-sustaining,” Usec. Punay said.

(We have conditions for our program because our objective, apart from giving them proper food on a daily basis, is to teach them to be self-sustaining.)

The FSP is implemented in partnership with the World Food Programme (WFP), Asian Development Bank (ADB), and government agencies such as the TESDA, DOLE, Department of Health (DOH), and the National Nutrition Council (NNC).

For the pilot implementation, 3,000 families from selected regions in the country belonging to the food-poor criteria as defined by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) will be able to receive electronic benefit transfer cards (EBT) loaded with Php3,000 worth of food credits to purchase nutritious food items from DSWD-accredited retailers. #