Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Rex T. Gatchalian announced on Tuesday (June 13) the approval of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on the pilot run and implementation of the food stamp program (FSP), the newest addition to the government’s social protection packages.

“It’s all green lights. Go na for the pilot which will take place shortly,” Secretary Gatchalian told Malacanang reporters during the weekly press briefing.

Secretary Gatchalian noted that the President provided some provisions to expand the program, such as the inclusion of single-parent, pregnant, and lactating mothers to the list of program beneficiaries.

“The President also wants to bring in pregnant, lactating mothers kasi we have to start looking at stunting in this country and the first 1,000 days program is very important,” the DSWD Chief noted.

Secretary Gatchalian said the food stamp program aims to provide assistance, in the form of digital stamps worth Php 3000 food credits, to poor families and vulnerable sectors.

The program was designed using a ‘whole-of-government’ approach to address the involuntary hunger that millions of Filipinos are experiencing.

“Ang marching order ng Pangulo dapat malabanan natin ang stunting at ang kagutuman, pagsanib-pwersa ng mga iba’t ibang programa ng gobyerno, para hindi sila piece by piece ang turing sa mga programa (The marching order of the President is we fight stunting and hunger, through the collaborative efforts among government agencies),” the DSWD chief explained.

The DSWD will work with other government agencies, such as the Department of Agriculture, Department of Health, and Food and Nutrition Research Institute, among others, in the pilot implementation of the program.

The DSWD chief also pointed out the importance of the initial run on the overall success of the program.

“From the pilot, we will see the nuances, what needs to be improved, what needs to be enhanced, what needs to be discontinued,” Secretary Gatchalian said.

The DSWD secretary also added that the pilot run will be done “so that we will not end up with wasteful spending.”

The FSP is funded with USD 3 million in grants from the Asian Development Bank, Japan International Cooperation Agency, and the French Development Agency. #