Social Welfare Secretary Rex Gatchalian said he is looking at reviving the food stamps program to address the hunger problem among poor Filipinos.
“It doesn’t seem [like] we’re denting [hunger],” Gatchalian said in a television interview in response to a recent survey showing that an estimated three million Filipino families or 11.8% experienced involuntary hunger at least once in the past three months.
The SWS survey showed the number of families facing hunger from October to December 2022 was highest in Mindanao at 12.7 percent, followed by the Visayas at 12 percent, Metro Manila at 11.7 percent, and Balance Luzon — or Luzon outside Metro Manila — at 11.3 percent.
“Poverty is intergenerational – you cannot solve that overnight. But a poor family’s immediate need is to have something to eat. I want to bring back the food coupons or food stamps,” he added.
Gatchalian said the DSWD may tap the private sector for the program.
“I may not be able to pull people out of poverty immediately, but I can solve their immediate need of trying to put food on the table,” he added.
He also vowed to prioritize fixing the agency’s list of beneficiaries under the 4Ps program.
“We just have to make sure that the list is good. So that is our first priority, we have to make sure that the list is correct,” he said in a separate interview.
On Tuesday, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. urged the DSWD to continue calibrating the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) as well as developing the other government’s social protection initiatives.
“Continue calibrating the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program and strengthening the government’s social protection initiatives, especially since one of the measures we undertake to address poverty is through the grants that we provide for the health needs of every household and education of our children,” Marcos said in his speech during the DSWD’s anniversary program.
Then DSWD officer-in-charge Edu Punay told Manila Standard that at least 500,000 beneficiaries will “graduate” within the first semester to pave the way for the inclusion of new and more needy beneficiaries.
Punay said with at least 200,000 beneficiaries removed from the 4Ps list last year, a total of 700,000 slots will be opened this year.
The President also called on the DSWD to continue the enforcement of the Unconditional Cash Transfer program in order to provide cash grants to poor households and individuals as well as to enhance the Social Pension Program for Indigent Senior Citizens.
