MANILA – President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. said his administration is doing better in addressing food poverty.
During a sectoral meeting on Tuesday, Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) secretary Rex Gatchalian told Marcos about the significant drop in the number of food poor families.
“We are doing a better job of feeding people who need it,” the Chief Executive said during a meeting held at the Malacañang Palace.
Gatchalian also said the number of food poor families slid by 300,000 last year from one million families due to the implementation of the government’s Food Stamp Program (FSP).
The DSWD Secretary also told Marcos that the number of food poor families slid to 700,000 from one million families at the time the FSP was designed.
“When we designed this (FSP), it was at one million. So, dahil bumaba na po siya we have leg room doon sa area na ‘yun,” Gatchalian said during the meeting.
The Food Stamp Program was designated a flagship program of the government by virtue of Executive Order (EO) No. 44.
Funded through a $3-million grant from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the program will provide electronic benefit transfer (EBT) cards that will be loaded with food credits amounting to P3,000 per month to purchase a select list of food commodities from DSWD-registered or accredited retailers./PN
