In times of crisis, such as the one we face this year in 2026 as a result of the Unied States–Iran war and the looming El Niño phenomenon during the second half of the year, we should consider the advice given in the Comprehensive Food Security Framework (CFSF). Described in the book edited by Drs. Llanto and Basilio, this framework advocates for taking a “dual-track” approach. The first track consists of a package of measures that address the immediate needs of those who are unable to meet food and nutrition requirements.

These individuals belong to the 16 percent or more of the population living below the poverty line. The second track involves medium- and long-term interventions to ensure food security for the country and for poor households, especially. Under the first track are emergency food assistance, payment of living wages, nutrition interventions, cash transfers, other social protection instruments, access to agricultural inputs, and food price policy interventions.

This first track fulfills a crucial humanitarian role, especially during disasters or pandemics. It must, however, go beyond using emergency assistance to address immediate issues of hunger and deprivation. There is an urgent need to expand social and food safety programs for households experiencing a considerable decline in income. For example, popular tourist destinations like Baguio City, Boracay, and Siargao have experienced a precipitous drop in the number of tourists this year, leaving hotels and restaurants empty.

Local residents in these areas may find themselves unemployed or unable to sell their services or wares, easily joining the ranks of the very poor after having belonged to the lower-middle-income segment before the crisis. From the studies and surveys of the late Dr. Emil Antonio—the guru of family income studies—I estimate that today’s threshold family income for a typical family of four (parents and two children) would be at least ₱30,000 monthly, which is needed for a minimum of physical comfort and human dignity.

I am afraid that the widespread loss of employment and other sources of earnings this year will increase the number of families unable to reach this threshold, thereby requiring emergency help.

Social protection schemes, which are integral instruments in building a country’s human capital—a distinctive competitive advantage of the Philippines in a global economy where practically all developed countries are suffering from rapid aging and population decline—are very important elements of the first track.

The CFSF emphasizes that social protection schemes can “improve children’s level of nutrition, cognitive development, school attainments, and future labor productivity, thereby enhancing earning potentials and promoting development.” Here, it is paramount that both the business sector and civil society partner with the government in emergency feeding programs for the hungry and undernourished, especially children.

In this regard, let me cite some of the leading initiatives that address this first track of food security. The Walang Gutom Kitchen in Pasay City, located at the Nasdale Building on F.B. Harrison, is the country’s first large-scale public-private soup kitchen launched by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in partnership with hotels and restaurants in the National Capital Region.

It serves hot meals to the public from 6:00 a.m. until supplies last. Some of the largest five-star hotels in the Metro Manila area contribute their daily surplus food to this kitchen. The food security crisis this year should prompt the DSWD to partner with hotels and restaurants in other major cities like Metro Cebu, Metro Davao, Iloilo, Bacolod, Baguio, and other highly urbanized regions to replicate this Walang Gutom Kitchen model.

Another initiative worth replicating (and indeed, the Baguio Business Club is in the process of organizing a parallel activity in Baguio City) is the Philippine Food Bank Foundation, which was founded by top business executive Dr. Jose Sandejas Jr., and which I now have the honor of chairing. The PFBF is a non-profit operating out of Taguig, Rizal, that partners with hotels, restaurants, food manufacturers, and farmers to redistribute surplus food to grassroots communities (including some Indigenous Peoples), parishes, and orphanages.

It started 12 years ago in Metro Manila and since then has expanded its operations to Cebu, Iloilo, Bacolod, Davao, Cagayan de Oro, Angeles, and San Fernando, Pampanga. It has partnered with an increasing number of local and multinational restaurants and hotels. As mentioned above, it is about to sign an MOU with the newly organized Baguio Business Club to help the latter launch its own version of the food bank in this leading tourism destination, which is one of the hardest hit by the ongoing economic crisis.

Another private initiative addressing the food security challenge is the Good Food Grocer in Taguig and Bacolod, which is operated by Rise Against Hunger Philippines (RAHP). The food banks operated by RAHP act as franchises distributing subsidized, highly nutritious food to nutritionally at-risk families.

RAHP also manages Good Farm to ensure a steady supply of fresh produce. In fact, there are a number of high-income professionals who grow high-value vegetables and fruits as a hobby, often using advanced technologies such as hydroponics, AI, and drones. These well-to-do people can donate their produce to feed the hungry.

The food crisis this year provides a critical occasion to ensure that the first track in addressing food insecurity makes whatever food is available accessible to the hungry, especially children. Enhanced and sustained social protection schemes, such as conditional cash transfers (CCTs) and nutrition interventions, can help poor, food-insecure households gain better access to food and nutrition. The effectiveness of CCTs in addressing a social policy objective has been demonstrated in the government’s “Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program” (4Ps).

The country has legislated the provision of CCTs as an instrument to foster education, health, and nutrition among the underprivileged. A 2015 PIDS study by Reyes and colleagues showed the efficacy of the 4Ps program in increasing the school participation rate among children aged 6 to 14 by 3.0 percentage points, enabling around 100,000 children to finish at least an elementary level education. Another PIDS study indicated that the CCT program shows desirable impacts on most of the target education and health outcomes of children, pregnant women, and overall household welfare.

Unfortunately, the food security crisis this year is being experienced in an atmosphere of deep public distrust in government, resulting from the flood-control corruption scandal and the even more scandalous behavior of some leading legislators in the Senate.

We have to point out, however, that the benefits of the CCT program have been well-documented. It has been demonstrated that cash transfers can alleviate the food burden and nutrition problems of the poor and other vulnerable groups like persons with disabilities (PWDs), small farmers and fisherfolk (SFF), and others.