DSWD Food Stamp Program for the hungry, reminiscent of the US Great Depression

The WALANG GUTOM 2027: Food Provision through Strategic Transfer and Alternative Measures Program or the Food Stamp Program is now in full swing.  It is the national government’s flagship project designating the Department of Social Work and Development as the implementing agency by Malacañang Executive Order (EO) No. 44 in the same vein that the 4Ps or the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, a conditional cash transfer program of the Philippine government is also under the DSWD that aims to eradicate extreme poverty in the Philippines by investing in health and education, particularly in ages 0–18.

The Food Stamp Program, on the other hand, aims to end hunger, improve food security, and promote healthy eating by 2030. The government issues stamps to people experiencing poverty so they can buy only nutritious food from DSWD-accredited stores. For how long? Until they become strong enough to work, according to DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian, job generation is one of the critical features of the Food STAMP Program. Program beneficiarieswill be required to attend capacity building and development training and become part of the labor workforce.

The Food Stamp Program is reminiscent of the original Food Stamp Program during the Great Depression in the United States from 1929-1939. Why Food Stamp?  The Great Depression was the worst economic crisis that affected millions of Americans. No jobs and the food crisis was at its worst. Hunger was everywhere. Food stamps were a solution to widespread hunger among the people. Stamps during that time allowed hungry Americans to buy only nutritious food. In time, the government then of President Theodore Roosevelt shifted its gear towards industrialization by focusing on massive infrastructure building and job creation. However, food stamps became a regular feature of the government-funded Supplement Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) for millions of poor Americans nationwide, who became dependent on food aid because of continued joblessness. Food insecurity today remains a significant issue in the United States, with many individuals and families still unable to afford adequate food.

For all its noble intentions, the Food Stamp Program, copied from the US, hopes to align with the Philippine Development Plan 2023-2028  to provide accessible, safe, and nutritious food to Filipinos in the coming years, and the administration’s 8-Point Socioeconomic Agenda. Last July, the DSWD piloted the Food Stamp Program with 3,000 families in five areas: Tondo, Manila; Dapa, Siargao; San Mariano, Isabela; Garchitorena, Camarines Sur; and Parang, Maguindanao. In Bicol last Tuesday, the DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian personally oversaw the program first in Minalabac, then in Garchitorena in Camarines Sur. The Food Stamp program will give households access to nutritious food through food credit assistance using an electronic benefit transfer (EBT) card pre-loaded with food credits worth PHP3,000 per month.

Moderate to severe chronic hunger

The Food Stamp Program is a public acknowledgment that one out of five Filipinos are in extreme hunger. The Food and Agriculture Organization’s State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2023 reported that 50% of the Philippines’ population faces moderate or severe food insecurity. Twenty-nine percent of children are affected by stunted growth. The Social Weather Survey showed hunger rose to 14.2% in March 2024 from 12.6% in December 2023 and found that 14.2% of Filipino families experienced involuntary hunger – being hungry and not having anything to eat – at least once in the past three months. Most Bicolanos are among them.

The NEDA reported that Bicol sustained growth at a slower rate of 4.6 percent in 2023 compared to the 8.0 percent growth in 2022. The negative 5.4 percent growth in agriculture, forestry, and fisheries overtook the positive development in the industry and services sectors. The farmers, who comprise the majority of the population, are at the suffering end. They go hungry while waiting for the harvest, and in coastal villages, when it is monsoon season, the fisherfolks are also without food. That is why DSWD Regional Director Norman Laurio hopes to include more poor household beneficiaries in 2025, from 35,000 to 70,000 families from the six provinces.

The Regional Development Project 2023-2028 is the second medium-term plan of the Bicol Region anchored on the national long-term vision – the AmBisyon Natin 2040, which aims to make more middle-class Filipinos citizens by 2040. It aims for inclusive growth, reduction of poverty, and ensuring resiliency. That was also the goal of many past administrations. Secretary Garchitorena is confident in reaching the ‘Wala ng Gutom’ goal in the Food Stamp Program. In three or four years, those “who are part of the program will be able to eat right so they can find enough energy to be part of nation-building.”

But the stark reality stares us in the face. Though living conditions gradually improved and poverty incidence significantly dropped to 26 percent in 2018 from 39 percent in 2015, Bicol, for the longest time, remains the second poorest region next to the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Mindanao. The Pandemic was an aggravating factor. But the endemic social conditions of unequal access to economic opportunities and resources, landlessness for many farmers, retarded industrialization, and modernization in agriculture and fisheries are pulling every good intention and program down. Setting up poverty reduction programs that may only run for a short period while their funds last to sustain them can be daunting.