Food stamp rolls out
One-million low-income families will get Electronic Benefit Transfer cards to buy select food in supermarkets and Kadiwa stores.
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One-million low-income families will get Electronic Benefit Transfer cards to buy select food in supermarkets and Kadiwa stores.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) will start implementing the Food Stamp Program (FSP) nationwide this month.
The FSP is one of the priority programs of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. that aims to fight involuntary hunger by augmenting nutrition of the one million low-income households in the country or those in the so-called Listahanan 3. Beneficiaries in the list were identified based on the food-poor criteria as defined by the Philippine Statistics Authority.
The implementation of the program is ordered through Executive Order 44 which establishes the “Walang Gutom 2027: Food Stamp Program.” It is a monetary-based assistance with Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards to be used by beneficiaries in purchasing select food commodities from eligible partner merchant stores.
DSWD Undersecretary Edu Punay said the agency prepared for the full implementation of the program by conducting a six-month pilot implementation in several parts of the country. FSP staff and 1,000 validators also were hired in the areas covered.
Punay said FSP would be implemented in 10 regions and 21 provinces with an initial target of 300,000 families.
The 300,000 beneficiaries were validated and registered last month.
According to Punay, a review and assessment of the results of their six-month pilot testing was conducted to determine the impact of the program on select 3,000 beneficiaries. He noted that initial assessments conducted from February to March showed a significant impact on the lives of the beneficiaries.
The DSWD is mandated to identify eligible beneficiaries of the program and to collaborate with relevant stakeholders to ensure the efficient and timely distribution of food stamps.
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EBT cards
The EBT can be used by family beneficiaries to buy food from the local market, small and medium enterprises or SMEs, supermarket and Kadiwa ng Pangulo. It has no money value and can only buy food through the so-called food basket.
Items like liquor and cigarettes will automatically be rejected.
To use the EBT card, it is scanned through the store’s point-of-service machine to record food purchases.
Select food recognized by the EBT based on the recommendation of the Food and Nutrition Research Institute include rice, bread, meat, fish, mung beans (munggo), vegetable, iodized salt and others, according to an FSP information guide.
Rice or bread purchases are limited to only P1,500 worth of the food, P900 for protein-rich foods like meat (chicken or pork) and P600 for vegetables, fruits, and other ingredients like salt, cooking oil, etc.
A sample food basket contains 50 percent carbohydrates (rice, corn, bread, oil and pasta/noodles); 30 percent proteins (beef, poultry, pork, fish, egg, beans, legumes, nuts); and 20 percent fruits and vegetables.
Qualified participants
Beneficiaries are chosen based on two criteria. First, they should belong to the most vulnerable groups. Second, they should be proven to be deserving of the food stamp. Beneficiaries can be visited and their living condition checks for validation. City, municipal and barangay (village) officials can do the validation.
Chosen families will then be given EBT cards.
President Marcos also instructed the DSWD to include pregnant and lactating mothers.
To date, the DSWD pilot implementation of the FSP program has 2,366 household beneficiaries from Tondo, Manila; San Mariano, Isabela; Dapa, Siargao; Garchitorena, Camarines Sur; and Parang, Maguindanao.
A continued validation and registration is still ongoing to reach the targeted 3,000 pilot beneficiaries.
Conditions
FSP beneficiaries must follow some conditions, like a regular participation to monthly Nutrition Education Session, before using their EBT card at Kadiwa ng Pangulo stalls where the sessions are also held.
Two absences in these sessions and other activities called by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority and Department of Labor and Employment may be a ground for suspension or holding of the beneficiary’s entitlement to the program. But they can be accommodated back to the FSP, once they are able to attend the sessions.
