DSWD to start validation, registration for food stamp program

MANILA, Philippines — The validation and registration of at least 300,000 poor families who will benefit from the full implementation of the national government’s food stamp program (FSP) will start this month, an official of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) said yesterday.

DSWD Undersecretary for innovations Eduardo Punay said the agency has already hired over 1,000 validators for the process.

Punay declined to identify all the regions and provinces as President Marcos is expected to tackle the FSP in his State of the Nation Address (SONA) in July.

The DSWD official said that one is the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, with the provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi as among the targets.

Unlike previous food-feeding programs, Punay said the FSP is different as the agency is giving dignity to the beneficiaries who will no longer have to wait for hours in long queues just to get their benefits.

Instead, the recipients will receive their assistance through electronic beneficiary transfer cards.

The government earlier allocated around P1.89 billion for the scaled-up program.

Another feature of the FSP is that the beneficiaries have the option to choose what nutritious food they want to eat.

“There’s the purchasing power, there’s the right to choose,” Punay said.

Families with an income of P8,300 a month are considered food poor, according to Punay, citing a study from the Philippine Statistics Authority.

The DSWD official said that the FSP aims to benefit around one million food-poor families by 2027.