FEEDING THE NATION: Can Walang Gutom Program answer PH’s issues against hunger?

The Walang Gutom 2027: Food Stamp Program, launched by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), aims to tackle this long-standing issue of hunger by providing food subsidies through credits to Filipinos in need. 

This initiative hopes to not only alleviate hunger but also improve nutrition to people. However, it is still a battle for the Philippines that aside from hunger, there are also issues deeply rooted, such as poverty, inflation, and disparities. 

What is the Walang Gutom Program?

To help reduce poverty incidence to a single digit by 2028, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) aims to increase the P3,000 monthly food allowance of its Walang Gutom Program (WGP), formerly known as the Food Stamp Program (FSP).

Through the use of Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards, WGP beneficiaries receive monthly food credits worth 3,000, which can be redeemed at approved stores run by farmers and trusted sellers. 

Alongside the WGP, the expansion plan of the Walang Gutom Kitchen is also considered to aid other programs done by the government to reduce hunger in areas such as the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), whose food insecurity was at 84% in 2023.

With the WGP, 300,000 food-poor families are currently benefiting, but it is targeted to increase to 750,000 by 2027.

Hunger key figures from the latest surveys

In the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey, the following were found: 52% of Filipino families consider themselves poor and 27.2% of Filipino families said that they had suffered involuntary hunger in three months.

The rate of hunger among poor families rose from 31.5 percent in December 2024 to 35.6 percent in March 2025, indicating that there is a lapse when it comes to the country’s food security and poverty that makes Filipinos hungry. 

The reported allocation of the P3,000 food credit is PHP1,500 or 50% for carbohydrate-rich foods, PHP900 or 30% for protein sources, PHP600 or 20% for fiber-rich foods.

Hungry for Help

Assistance Philippines says that Applicants must be listed in the Listahan 3 – the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHSTS-PR), which identifies the poorest families in the country.

Cebu Daily News reports that households must be within the Philippine Statistics Authority’s (PSA) food expenditure threshold that equates to only P9,550 per month.

According to SunStar, the WGP prioritizes families that are not currently registered in the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps).

Assistance Philippines also says that beneficiaries are required to attend nutrition education activities.

DSWD also announced that recipients of the WGP are obliged to enroll in job-generating programs of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA)