The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) announced that the enrollment process for an additional 300,000 household beneficiaries into the “Walang Gutom 2027: Food Provision through Strategic Transfer and Alternative Measures Program” (Food Stamp) is now underway.
DSWD Undersecretary Edu Punay confirmed the ongoing registration, stating that the new batch will complete the agency’s goal of serving 600,000 households by the end of 2025.
“Since last year, we served 300,000 household beneficiaries in 10 regions and 22 provinces. Now we were able to onboard an additional 300,000 beneficiaries,” Punay said in a statement.
“Before the end of the year, 600,000 will be served under this program, 600,000 household beneficiaries in 12 regions and more provinces.”
The Walang Gutom program provides qualified “food-poor” families with a monthly food assistance of P3,000 delivered through Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards.
These cards function like tap cards and cannot be converted to cash or used at ATMs.
The funding for this latest expansion of 300,000 beneficiaries was secured through a loan agreement with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) as part of the Reducing Food Insecurity and Undernutrition with Electronic Vouchers (REFUEL) Project.
Punay explained that the national government’s initial P1.9 billion allocation in the General Appropriations Act was only sufficient to cover 50,000 beneficiaries for one year, necessitating the strategic loan arrangement.
The DSWD aims to reach a total of 750,000 “food-poor” families by 2027 under the program.
The P3,000 grant is specifically budgeted to ensure nutritional balance, requiring beneficiaries to spend 50 percent on rice or alternative carbohydrates, 30 percent on protein (meat, pork, or fish), and 20 percent on dietary fiber (fruits and vegetables).
