Marcos to keep P40-billion food program

PRESIDENT Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. on Tuesday said the government’s food stamp program, which needs a funding of P40 billion, will be sustained as long as the Philippines needs it.

“In terms of funding, I think we will be able to sustain it as long as we need it,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the program launch in Tondo, Manilla.

He said the program would only get phased out if the country’s hunger incidence eases.

Mr. Marcos Jr. also said he hopes there will come a time when the state’s conditional cash transfer program called Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) is no longer needed.

But there are unforeseen occurrences including typhoons that require continued assistance from the government.

The food stamp program, which targets a million poorest of the poor families, aims to reduce involuntary hunger experienced by low-income households by giving them so-called electronic benefit transfer cards, which will be loaded with food credits, according to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

“The load credits will be used by beneficiaries to purchase nutritious food items from DSWD-accredited retail partners,” it said in a statement.

The agency will implement the program in partnership with the World Food Program (WFP) and Asian Development Bank (ADB). — Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza