The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is set to pilot test its food stamp program or the “Walang Gutom 2027,” for six months covering 3,000 of the poorest of the poor households from five areas in the country by the second half of the year, Social Welfare Secretary Rex Gatchalian said yesterday.
Gatchalian, in a briefing in Malacanang, said the Asian Development bank (ADB) has committed $3 million for the pilot test of the program which aims to help alleviate hunger and poverty in the country.
He said a “draft design” for the program is being finetuned to ensure smooth implementation.
Gatchalian said DSWD is working with Philippine Statistics Authority’s in-house poverty expert, undersecretary Dennis Mapa, and Philippine Institute for Development Studies’ senior researcher Dr. Roehlano Briones in crafting the program.
The design will be completed by June.
Target duration of the pilot run is July to December.
Gatchalian said five areas have been identified for the pilot run: one in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) which is described to be a former conflict area; one in a geographically- isolated region or province; one in an urban poor setting; one in calamity-stricken areas; and one in a rural poor area.
Gatchalian said the government hopes to launch the actual run in the first quarter of next year starting with around 300,000 poor families which will be increased by another 300,000 after a few months until the target of one million poor families is realized.
The beneficiaries are from the “bottom one million households” of DSWD’s Listahanan 3 or list of poor households.
Gatchalian said the government would be continuously monitoring the program to ensure the targeted beneficiaries benefit. These are the poorest of the poor such as those whose family earn less than P8,000 a month.
He said beneficiaries of existing programs of government like the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) — intended to keep children in school and ensure they receive their health requirements — can still avail of the food stamp program.
He said non-4Ps beneficiaries who are among the poorest but failed to meet the 4Ps criteria can now benefit from the government program.
Gatchalian said under the program, beneficiaries will be provided a tap card loaded with P3,000 worth of food credits which can be used to purchase food items included in a “list of food commodities” from DSWD- accredited local retailers, groceries and Kadiwa ng Pangulo shops.
It will also be a “conditional” program where the beneficiaries need to have a member that is part of the workforce.
Gatchalian said the private partners as well as international organizations such as the World Bank and the United Nations have signified their intention to help in the implementation of the program.
He said at present there are food stamp programs implemented in other countries such as Mongolia, Venezuela, Indonesia and Vietnam.
