THE new food stamp system of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) covers only basic fresh foods like vegetables, fish, and meat from partners-merchants, Senator Imee Marcos said Friday.
She pointed out that the P3,000 worth of food stamps under the new program cannot be used to buy canned goods and fast-food chain offerings.
The lady lawmaker, who sponsored the DSWD budget for 2024 before the Senate, clarified that the food stamp is a monetary-based assistance available through electronic cards with load for food credits.
The P3,000 food credits will be given monthly to beneficiaries who will remain in the program for four years. The food stamp program is meant to bolster nutrition among marginalized families.
But since the program is still in the pilot stage, the DSWD could choose only families from the municipalities of Camarines Sur, Surigao del Norte, Maguindanao, as well as Tondo, Manila, Marcos noted.
Meanwhile, during the Senate deliberation of the DSWD budget, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III questioned the different data on the country’s poverty incidence.
“How can it be reduced when data given to the President on the matter are conflicting?” Pimentel noted.
He recalled that President Marcos, in his second State of the Nation Address, pledged to reduce poverty incidence to nine percent by the end of his term.
The basis of the President was the data provided by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) data showed only 18 percent of Filipino households nationwide are poor.
It was revealed during the budget deliberations, however, that six million or 30 percent out of an estimated 20 million households live below the poverty line.
Six million of this figure are considered poor, the senator added.
With this finding, Pimentel said this means 30 percent of households are poor, as he underscored the contrasting figures in the poverty incidence.
Under the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), 4.4 million households are being serviced by DSWD.
Senator Marcos, the President’s sister, admitted that the number of the impoverished Filipinos was bigger based on the DSWD record than the PSA data.
Senator Sherwin Gatchalian agreed with Pimentel’s observations that the data on poverty rate was confusing.