DSWD chief eyes revival of food stamp program

The newly appointed Secretary of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is hoping to revive the food stamp program to reduce hunger among poor Filipinos. In an ANC interview on Thursday, Feb. 2, DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian mentioned that food coupons or stubs could ease hunger.

“Every program has to be measured by performance indexes. SWS hunger rating comes out quarterly, and it doesn’t seem that we’re denting it. There are 11 percent Filipino families that are hungry. Poverty is intergenerational. We cannot solve that overnight. But a poor family, ang (the) immediate need there, mapakain mo agad (is to feed them immediately),” Gatchalian said. “I may not be able to pull Filipino people out of poverty immediately, but I can solve their immediate need of trying to put food on the table,” he added.

Gatchalian said he raised the idea of reviving the food stamp program during a brainstorming session with DSWD undersecretaries.

He pointed out that the government can tap the private sector to implement the program.

“That’s a developmental side (revival of food stamp) that I want to look at. I want to be responsive but at the same time I want to come up with developmental programs,” Gatchalian said.

“We try to bring back dignity maski papano (somehow). They’re empowered to go there on their own volition to be treated like a regular customer in a supermarket to be able to shop for what they want and to be able to line up in a shorter line in an air-conditioned grocery. It brings back some type of dignity and empowerment to the well-being, mentally and emotionally, of that person in poverty,” he added.