THE Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has expanded its Supplementary Feeding Program (SFP) to reach more children nationwide, anchored on an increased budget allocation to support wider geographic coverage and a longer feeding period beginning in 2026.
The expansion of the SFP reflects the DSWD’s strengthened commitment to improving the nutritional status of children aged two to five years old enrolled in Child Development Centers (CDCs) and Supervised Neighborhood Playgroups (SNPs), in line with the Philippine Plan of Action for Nutrition (PPAN) and the Philippine Development Plan (PDP) 2023–2028, the DSWD said in a statement on Wednesday.
From 2025 to 2026, program coverage increased from 1,583,316 children to 1,899,415 covering 735 to 864 municipalities, with the number of covered CDCs rising from 29,094 to 32,230 in priority PPAN areas, it added.
The DSWD also noted that in provinces with high poverty incidence, the number of covered CDCs also increased from 5,284 in 2025 to 7,824 in 2026. The expansion ensures that more undernourished children in geographically and economically vulnerable communities receive regular and additional nutritional support.
Program performance in recent years showed consistently high accomplishment rates. In 2024, the SFP served 99.17 percent of the annual target whereas, in 2025, the program exceeded the annual target by reaching 100.25 percent accomplishment, the department said.
Milk feeding efforts also reached more than 100,000 children annually, underscoring the importance of continued investment and expansion.
DSWD assistant secretary and spokesperson Irene Dumlao underscored that the increase in funding directly supports the broader scope and longer implementation period of the program.
“The expansion of the Supplementary Feeding Program, particularly the extension to 180 feeding days and the inclusion of more municipalities and child development centers, required a corresponding increase in budget to ensure that services remain adequate, timely, and responsive to the needs of undernourished children,” Dumlao said.
The increase in budget allocation from Php5,031,989,760 to Php9,261,216,900 was driven primarily by the extension of the feeding period from 120 days to 180 days starting in 2026. The longer feeding duration is intended to provide more sustained nutritional intervention, improve growth outcomes, and address persistent undernutrition among young children.
“Efforts are ongoing to strengthen DSWD partnership with LGUs (local government units) to ensure orderly implementation of the Supplementary Feeding Program. The agency is also enhancing Supervised Neighborhood Playgroups to reach children enrolled in the Child Development Centers, especially those who are undernourished,” Dumlao said.
“We are also strengthening the capacity of child development workers and parents to support proper feeding and growth monitoring through the conduct of Parent Effectiveness Sessions, and promoting greater community participation, including support to local farmers and producers as sources of feeding commodities,” she added.
With the expansion of the program, the SFP is expected to further contribute to improved child nutrition outcomes and support national efforts to combat hunger and undernutrition among Filipino children.
