Around 259,000 households are now registered as beneficiaries of the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) “Walang Gutom” program, bringing the agency closer to its 300,000 target by the end of 2024.
DSWD Assistant Secretary and spokesperson Irene Dumlao reported that as of Dec. 4, 259,412 households have joined the program, reaching 86.47 percent of this year's goal.
In 2023, the program enlisted around 2,000 household-beneficiaries across its pilot areas nationwide.
The program's scaled-up implementation in July 2024 aims to reach 300,000 families across 22 provinces in 10 regions.
Dumlao said regions, such as Cagayan Valley, National Capital Region, and Caraga have already completed the registration of their targeted households, while several other regions have reported reaching 80 to 90 percent of the target.
Meanwhile, the DSWD Field Office 8 (Eastern Visayas) is fast-tracking registration efforts in Leyte, Samar, Eastern Samar, and Northern Samar. The office has already registered over 30,000 families, achieving 63.68 percent of its target.
Despite delays due to recent calamities, Dumlao assured the public that the DSWD is speeding up efforts to complete the onboarding of 300,000 beneficiaries by the end of the year.
“There might have been delays in verification and validation schedules due to the recent disasters that hit our country. However, as observed from the latest figures of verified beneficiaries, we are catching up with our target numbers,” she said.
The Walang Gutom Program, established under Executive Order No. 44, aims to reduce involuntary hunger among low-income Filipinos by providing electronic benefit transfer cards loaded with P3,000 in food credits, which can be used to purchase select food items every month.
The program also promotes nutritional education, teaching families how to prepare affordable and nutritious meals.
To ensure a balanced and healthy diet, 50 percent of food credits are allocated to carbohydrate-rich foods like rice and bread (P1,500), 30 percent to proteins like chicken or pork (P900), and 20 percent to vegetables, fruits, oil, salt, and condiments (P600).
Dumlao said the DSWD aims to support one million food-poor families by 2027.