President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. has approved the pilot testing of the food stamp program intended for one million poor families as part of the administration’s thrust to combat poverty, malnutrition and hunger, the country’s social welfare secretary said on Tuesday.
“The President approved the run of the pilot, which is fully funded through grants – grants from the ADB [Asian Development Bank], JICA [Japan International Cooperation Agency] and the French Development Agency. So, that will be US$3 million all in all,” Social Welfare Secretary Rex Gatchalian said in a press briefing in Malacañang.
“There’s a provision to expand it. ADB is still working on another trust fund so that we can expand the pilot. But other than that, it’s all green light, go na for the pilot which will take place shortly.”
Through the pilot testing, Gatchalian said the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and other involved agencies will see the nuances and determine what needs to be improved and enhanced, and what items have to be discontinued.
The government wants to avoid wasteful spending and make sure that when the program is expanded for its regular run, the government is doing it correctly, according to the DSWD chief.
The President, Gatchalian said, also wants to bring in pregnant, lactating mothers as the DSWD has started looking into the stunting problem in the country in order to effectively implement the First 1,000 Days Law (RA 11148).
“So paiigtingin natin iyang programa na iyan para ma-synchronize naman natin siya dito sa upcoming natin na food stamps program,” he said.
“Uulitin namin, ang marching order ng Pangulo, dapat malabanan natin ang stunting at ang gutom; pagsasanib-puwersa ng mga iba’t ibang programa ng gobyerno para hindi sila piece by piece ang turing sa mga programa.”
The food stamp program or the “Walang Gutom 2027” aims to provide electronic benefit transfers that will be loaded with food credits amounting to P3,000 to purchase a select list of food commodities from DSWD accredited local retailers.
It intends to target the bottom one million households from Listahanan 3 who belong to the food poor criteria as defined by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
The DSWD has identified five pilot sites coming from different geopolitical characteristics: one in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), what used to be a former conflict area; one in geographically isolated regions or provinces; one in urban poor settings; one will be calamity-stricken areas; and, one will be a rural poor area. (PND)
