Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Rex Gatchalian affirmed on Monday (July 24) that the recently launched WALANG GUTOM 2027: Food Stamp Program (FSP) is an investment to poor Filipinos by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.
“Importante kasi yung direksyon ng ating Pangulong Marcos. Naapaka-simple lang, mamuhunan tayo sa ating mamamayan. Mag-invest tayo sa ating mga tao,” explained Secretary Gatchalian in his interview over radio station DZRH.
(The direction of President Marcos is important. It is very simple, let’s invest in our people.)
On July 18, the DSWD held the pilot launch of the FSP, which aims to provide food credits worth Php3,000 to qualified food-poor families in order to enable them to purchase healthy food items from DSWD-accredited retailers.
The menu of food items was developed and certified by the Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI).
Secretary Gatchalian emphasized that the FSP is not a dole-out program since the beneficiaries need to meet certain conditions of the program.
Through the help of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and Technical Education And Skills Development Authority (TESDA), the beneficiaries are expected to join in capacity building and training to improve their employable skills.
“May kondisyon para maging bahagi nitong programa. Una pipili ka lamang ng mga pagkain na nakalista. Pangalawa, dahil hindi na sila nagugutom o nabawasan na yung kagutuman, pwede ka na magtrabaho, may enough ka ng enerhiya para makapagtrabaho, so may work conditions. Importante dito, makabwelo yung pamilya. Yung tinutustusan natin, importante na makahanap sila ng trabaho sa tulong ng DOLE at ng TESDA,” the DSWD chief explained.
(There are conditions to be a part of this program. First can choose only from the list of food. Second, because they are no longer hungry or their hunger has decreased, can work, have enough energy to work, so there are work conditions. It is important, for them to be able to support the family. It is important that they find a job with the help of DOLE and TESDA.)
Secretary Gatchalian also clarified that the FPS is still under pilot implementation until March 2024 to determine the program design’s strengths and chances for modifications.
About 3,000 low-income families identified through the Listahanan 3 and are under the food-poor criteria of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) will be the pilot beneficiaries of the FSP.
The DSWD will continue to innovate new programs to address the social welfare and developmental needs of the poor Filipinos under the leadership of Secretary Gatchalian. #
