The provinces of Iloilo and Antique are now included in the scaled-up implementation of the national government’s flagship “Walang Gutom Program”.
The program is focused on providing food stamps to poor families listed in the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR).
It is also responsible for providing monetary-based assistance in the form of an electronic benefit transfer (EBT), said Fabelino Bendoy, project development officer III of the program.
“The DSWD (Department of Social Welfare and Development) will provide EBT cards that will be loaded with food credits amounting to P3,000 per month to purchase a selected list of food commodities from DSWD-registered or accredited retailers,” he explained.
Of the 300,000 target households nationwide, 43,021 are coming from Western Visayas – 28,124 from Negros Occidental, 10,560 from Iloilo, and 4,337 from Antique.
Supposedly, it was only Negros Occidental that was included in the scale-up implementation of the program, Bendoy said.
However, the 43,021 target was not met because most of those in the Listahanan are enrolled with the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), so they expanded to Antique and Iloilo.
“That’s why we expanded in Iloilo province and Antique. We have an ongoing validation activity that will end next week. The status of verification as of Nov. 26, we have 35, 695 or 82.97 percent, or as of now around 90 percent,” he said.
DSWD-6 Regional Director Arwin Razo said that based on the validation and initial data, most beneficiaries are 4Ps members.
“In the guidelines of the Walang Gutom Program, they are automatically excluded if they are already part of the roster of the Pantawid,” Razo.
Meanwhile, in Negros Occidental, 16,426 families have already redeemed their EBT cards as of Nov. 15, 2024.
Using the card, they can purchase their supplies based on a food basket menu consisting of 50 percent carbohydrates, 30 percent protein, and 20 percent fats.Perla Lena/PNA
