Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Rex Gatchalian is confident that the “Walang Gutom 2027: Food Stamp Program” will achieve its target of feeding 1 million food-poor families within three years with the full support of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.

“The fight against hunger is doable and President Marcos is very supportive of this DSWD program which is now on a scale up to 21 priority provinces from the original five pilot areas in July 2023,” the DSWD chief said on Tuesday (July 23).

On Monday (July 22), President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr delivered his third State of the Nation Address (SONA) where the chief executive highlighted the need to invest in the inclusive development of the Filipino people, which include food and nutrition under the “Walang Gutom 2027: Food Stamp Program.”

“The recently launched “Walang Gutom 2027” will now be fully rolled out from the initial 2,300 households, now all the way to 300,000 food-poor households across the country by the end of this year. The program will go on until we feed the one million most food-poor families by 2027,” the President said in his well-applauded speech.

Secretary Gatchalian said the Walang Gutom 2027: Food Stamp Program was designed to address hunger by targeting 1 million household considered as “food poor” using data from the PSA.

The DSWD’s Food Stamp Program (FSP), an innovation under Secretary Gatchalian’s term, aims to reduce the incidence of voluntary hunger experienced by low-income households by providing monetary-based assistance through Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards that can be used to purchase select food commodities from eligible partner merchant store.

“To reach the 1 million FSP target in 2027, 300,000 households will be issued EBT cards before the end of the year, another 300,000 households will be issued EBT cards in 2025, and then 400,000 more in 2026,” the DSWD chief pointed out.

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) provided the data that around 1.4 million households in the country are considered food-poor. The PSA figure was used by the DSWD as basis for targeting 1 million FSP recipients nationwide in the next three years.

The DSWD began its pilot implementation of the FSP in December 2023 with an initial 2,285 beneficiaries from Tondo, Manila; San Mariano, Isabela; Dapa, Siargao; Gachitorena, Camarines Sur; and Parang, Maguindanao.

From the pilot areas, the FSP is now in 21 priority provinces in 10 regions, including the National Capital Region (NCR) with Tondo in the City of Manila being identified as having the most number of food-poor households in Metro Manila.

The other FSP priority provinces are Isabela in Region 2 (Cagayan Valley); Camarines Sur and Sorsogon in Region 5 (Bicol); Negros Occidental in Region 6 (Western Visayas); Cebu and Negros Oriental in Region 7 (Central Visayas); Eastern Samar; Leyte; Northern Samar and Western Samar in Region 8 (Eastern Visayas).

Zamboanga del Norte and Zamboanga Sibugay in Region 9 (Zamboanga Peninsula) along with the provinces of Basilan; Sulu and Tawi-Tawi under the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM);  Bukidnon and Lanao del Norte in Region 10 (Northern Mindanao);  Cotabato City in Region 12 (SOCCSKSARGEN) along with BARMM province of Maguindanao; and Surigao del Norte in the Caraga Region.

For the FSP’s full implementation, a funding of P1.89 billion for 2024 has been set aside.

The program seeks to reduce the incidence of malnutrition and hunger in low-income households or those with earnings below P8,000 per month.

At the time of the FSP’s launch in July 2023, the prevailing monthly food threshold set by the PSA for a family of five was P8,379. This means that a household member is considered food poor if he or she spends below P55.86 on meals per day, at P18.62 per meal.

In December 2023, the PSA’s updated food threshold for a family of the same size rose to P9,550 per month. To be food poor now is to have a meal worth below P21, or a budget of just P63.67 for all the day’s meals.

The EBT is loaded with P3,000 worth of food credits which household-beneficiaries can use to buy high-nutrition food items from the DSWD’s partner merchants. The food mix is 50 percent carbohydrates, 30 percent protein and 20 percent fiber.

“The FSP is not a dole-out program since its beneficiaries have to meet two conditions to avoid being delisted. First, they must attend nutrition education sessions once a month to foster positive behavioral change while learning to prepare healthy, yet tasty meals,” Secretary Gatchalian said.

“Second, they must participate in employment promotion activities at government job fairs or classes conducted by TESDA (Technical Education and Skills Development Authority),” the DSWD chief said.#