‘More than aid, food stamp drive to boost nutrition’

MANILA, Philippines — The food stamp program (FSP) will not encourage dependence on government aid, but is meant to improve the nutritional intake of poor Filipinos, President Marcos said yesterday.

Marcos ensured the sustainability of the program, citing funds coming from both the government and international agencies such as the World Food Program and the Asian Development Bank.

“It has become a priority of this government that we will fight all (kinds) of poverty… so that one day we can say that we are able to give our people, at the very least, the food that they need to survive, the nutrition that they need to survive,” Marcos said during the launch of the program in Tondo, Manila.

He said his administration would not only ensure abundant food supply, but also the nutritional value of the food provided on the table of every Filipino family, especially to children and nursing mothers, through the FSP.

Marcos is also agriculture secretary.

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) pilot-tested the FSP with 50 food-poor families, including pregnant women and lactating mothers, in Tondo.

The President distributed electronic benefit transfer (EBT) cards with food credits amounting to P3,000 to the beneficiaries.

The card will be used to purchase a select list of food commodities from DSWD-accredited local retailers.

Food credits can be used to purchase food items in Kadiwa outlets and other DSWD-accredited partner-retailers like supermarkets.

The program is also intended to target the bottom one million households from the “Listahanan 3” that belong to the food-poor criteria as defined by the Philippine Statistics Authority.

The program will be expanded gradually by covering 3,000 families by March next year, until it reaches the targeted one million families.

The FSP is one of the government’s commitments to reduce the incidence of hunger among low-income households, Marcos said.

He said the administration would continue programs that address food security and malnutrition affecting Filipino families, especially children.

“It is not enough to just provide all kinds of food… it should be of nutritional value that will allow, especially our children and our nursing mothers, to become a center of health, pro-life for their children, for their families and for their communities,” the President said.

“That is what we are hoping to achieve in this administration. That by the end of 2028, we can say that we have done everything to reduce the hunger and poverty in the country and be able to ensure that we can provide a good, healthy and productive life for our people,” he said.