ILOILO City – To alleviate poverty and ensure that “food poor” families in Western Visayas have access to nutritious meals, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is set to implement the Food Stamp Program (FSP) starting this July.
Around 30,000 “food poor” families in Negros Occidental are the initial target recipients in the region.
The FSP, a priority initiative of the Marcos administration, aims to combat involuntary hunger by providing food assistance to the bottom one million households, as identified by the Listahanan 3 database and defined by the Philippine Statistics Authority.
DSWD Region 6 director Atty. Carmelo Nochete explained that Negros Occidental was chosen first due to data indicating a high number of impoverished families in that province.
The program will provide each “food poor” family with an electronic card worth P3,000 monthly.
“These cards can be used to purchase well-balanced and nutritious food such as vegetables, protein, and fruits at accredited retailers like Kadiwa stores and other DSWD-accredited grocery stores. The food must meet nutritional guidelines,” Nochete explained.
To ensure that the recipients are qualified “food poor” families, DSWD-6 has hired validators who are currently deployed to verify the status of the target beneficiaries.
Nochete also mentioned the possibility of expanding the program to other provinces in the region in the coming months or next year.
“This is a continuing program targeting food-poor households whose income is insufficient to purchase adequate food. We may scale-up the program to other provinces in Western Visayas after one year,” he said.
The government plans to fully implement the FSP nationwide in July. In a press briefing in Quezon City, DSWD undersecretary Edu Punay said preparations for the program’s full implementation are underway after a successful six-month pilot phase in several parts of the country.
The program will be implemented in 10 regions and 21 provinces, with an initial target of 300,000 families, and the hiring of staff in the covered areas has already begun.
“This month, we have started validating and registering 300,000 beneficiaries for the July implementation. We also hired 1,000 validators in our implementation sites. Twenty-one provinces in 10 regions have been identified as priority areas,” Punay said.
Punay also noted that a review and assessment of the six-month pilot testing results will be conducted to evaluate the program’s impact on the selected 3,000 beneficiaries, with initial assessments from February to March showing significant positive impacts.
The DSWD is tasked with identifying eligible beneficiaries and collaborating with relevant stakeholders to ensure the efficient and timely distribution of food stamps. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has issued Executive Order 44, establishing the “Walang Gutom 2027: Food Stamp Program” as a flagship program of the national government, aiming to reduce voluntary hunger among low-income households through Electronic Benefit Transfer cards for purchasing select food commodities from partner merchant stores. (With a report from the Philippine News Agency)/PN