The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) on Saturday said it will stepped-up and put in place necessary measures to address the reported rise in the incidence of involuntary hunger in the country.

In a news forum in Quezon City, DSWD Undersecretary Edu Punay described the figure as “alarming,” but assured the public that the government is prioritizing food programs as Self-Rated Food Poverty among Filipinos climbed to 51 percent.

“Since the administration of President Bongbong [Marcos] came, we acted upon, we started implementing programs,”” Punay said. 

Punay was reacting to a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey, that based on its December 2024 survey, the percentage of families who saw themselves as poor reached 63 percent, up 4 points from 59 percent in September 2024.

Self-Rated Food Poverty also climbed to 51 percent, up 5 points from 46 percent in September 2024 and June 2024, SWS said. 

The 5-point rise was due to increases in the Visayas, Mindanao, and Balance Luzon, combined with a steady percentage in Metro Manila, according to the SWS. 

Punay highlighted DSWD’s wide-scale projects targeting hunger, such as opening the country’s first food bank dubbed “Walang Gutom Kitchen” and its food stamp program. 

Aside from these, the official said the government also has supplementary feeding programs to students.