The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) on Wednesday reported significant improvements in reducing hunger among families enrolled in its flagship “Walang Gutom” program, citing results from an independent tracking survey.
Social Welfare Secretary Rex Gatchalian said the program, launched in 2023 under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s directive to end hunger, now covers 300,000 food-poor families and is on track to expand to 600,000 by year-end and 750,000 by mid-2026.
“We made sure this program is data-driven,” Gatchalian said in a briefing in Malacañang. “Independent surveys show that hunger is declining among beneficiaries, which means the program is working and should be scaled up.”
According to the Social Weather Stations (SWS), hunger incidence among beneficiaries dropped from 48.7 percent in October 2024 to 41.5 percent in March this year, a 7.2 percentage point decline.
Gatchalian said the results confirm that government interventions are directly improving food security. He also underscored the importance of private sector partnerships with firms that funded the surveys to validate the program’s outcomes.
“Our mandate from the President is to eradicate hunger, and with the evidence we now have, we will continue expanding until all identified food-poor families are reached,” Gatchalian said.
He added that the program carries built-in sustainability mechanisms to ensure long-term impact. Beneficiaries undergo nutrition education sessions to learn about affordable and healthy diets, while productivity programs connect them to job fairs organized by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and skills training offered by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA).
“The idea is that once families exit the program, they have the knowledge to eat right and the means to earn a steady income,” Gatchalian said.
The DSWD chief also clarified that similar safeguards are in place for the agency’s Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps). Beneficiaries are only phased out after careful case management and once they reach a sustainable level of livelihood, with referrals to support services such as the Sustainable Livelihood Program, TESDA, and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED).
“Our President is very particular that the investments we make in our people should not be wasted,” Gatchalian said. “We want to ensure they do not fall back into poverty after leaving our programs.”
