3,000 families benefit from DSWD food stamp program

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, December 22)— Some 3,000 families across the country felt relief as they benefitted from the Department of Social Welfare and Development's (DSWD) food stamp program.

The family beneficiaries in parts of Manila, Maguindanao, Camarines Sur, Isabela, and Siargao expressed their happiness as they were able to purchase food items using a ₱3,000 food credit through the DSWD's 'Walang Gutom 2027: Food Stamp Program'.

Families with six to nine members who benefitted from the assistance said the items they bought would last for about two to three weeks.

«Sa bahay lang po ako. 'Yung asawa ko, sidecar [driver] lang din ang trabaho. Kaya mas malaking tulong 'tong nangyari ngayon na ginawa sa'min,' Loida Ulilang said.

[Translation: I stay in our house, and my husband drives a sidecar for work, that's why this assistance will be very helpful for us.]

Meanwhile, DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian said the pilot implementation of the program will be once a month which will last for six months.

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If successful, the DSWD chief said the program will be expanded to cover up to one million families by 2027.

As part of the government's initiative, the Department of Labor and Employment and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority were also available during the program to help beneficiaries find jobs or train them for a livelihood.

»Habang binibigyan natin sila ng buwelo, dapat nagtatrabaho sila," Gatchalian said. «Kaya nga ang exit natin sa kanila, dapat two to three years tapos na sila sa programa. Kasi by that time, nag-stabilize na dapat — may trabaho na, may kinikita na.»

Under the 2024 General Appropriations Act, ₱2 billion is allotted for the program.

Gatchalian said he was satisfied with the reduction of the country's poverty incidence from 18 percent in the first six months of 2021 to 16.4 percent in the first half of this year.

However, he noted that the goal of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. was to significantly lower it to a single-digit percentage.