More poor Filipino families will now benefit from the government’s e-voucher food stamp program after the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Board approved its expansion.
The three-year Reducing Food Insecurity and Undernutrition with Electronic Vouchers (REFUEL) Project worth P74.6 billion will cover some 750,000 food-insecure households, more than double the number of beneficiaries under the original food stamp project.
“By approving the REFUEL project, the government demonstrates its unwavering commitment to fight food insecurity and undernutrition,” said NEDA Secretary Arsenio Balisacan.
“The program reflects a renewed focus toward ending involuntary hunger, uplifting vulnerable communities, and promoting resilience through smart, nutrition-sensitive social protection,” he added.
The REFUEL project, set to be implemented from July 2025 to July 2028, is an enhancement of the Philippine Food Strategic Transfer and Alternative Measures Program (STAMP), one of the strategies under the government’s flagship Walang Gutom (Zero Hunger) 2027 Food Stamp Program.
It targets to benefit about 750,0000 food-insecure households included under DSWD’s Listahanan 3 database through funding from the Asian Development Bank, Agence Française de Développement, and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries Fund for International Development.
According to the 2023 National Nutrition Survey of the Department of Science and Technology’s Food and Nutrition Research Institute, three in every 10 Filipino households experience moderate to severe food insecurity while three out of every 100 households face severe food insecurity.
A survey by the Social Weather Stations released last month showed the number of Filipino families that have experienced involuntary hunger at least once in the past three months rose to 27.2 percent – the highest since the 30.7 percent logged during the COVID-19 pandemic in September 2020.
The highest percentage of involuntary hunger or “being hungry and not having anything to eat” was recorded in the Visayas at 33.7 percent, followed by Metro Manila at 28.3 percent, Mindanao at 27.3 percent, and Balance Luzon at 24 percent.
“The project’s goal is to strengthen our shock-responsive social protection systems by ensuring the timely delivery of food vouchers to Filipinos in need, particularly those facing hunger and nutritional challenges in the face of increasing climate and disaster risks,” Balisacan said.
Meanwhile, the NEDA Board also approved the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System’s request for an increase in the total project cost, a change in the project scope, and an extension of the loan validity and implementation period for the New Centennial Water Source – Kaliwa Dam Project.
The approved change brought the total project cost to P15.3 billion.
The Kaliwa Dam, designed to provide an additional 600 million liters of raw water per day, is expected to serve the National Capital Region and the provinces of Rizal and Cavite.
As of December 2024, over 24.8 percent of the physical construction has been completed.
The NEDA Board also approved the updated list of the government’s Infrastructure Flagship Projects.
The new list now includes a total of 207 projects, up from the previous 186, with eight high-impact and urgently needed projects already completed since 2023.