The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has begun enrolling 300,000 additional household beneficiaries into the Walang Gutom Program (WGP), a key anti-poverty initiative of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s administration.

Undersecretary Edu Punay of the DSWD’s Innovation and Program Development Group (IPDG) announced that the new beneficiaries will complete the 600,000 target households for this year.

“(Since) last year, we have served 300,000 household beneficiaries in 22 provinces from 10 regions. Now, we have onboarded (an) additional 300,000 beneficiaries,” Undersecretary Punay said in a radio interview on Monday.

“Before the end of the year, 600,000 na po ang ating ise-serve sa programang ito — 600,000 household beneficiaries sa 12 rehiyon at mas maraming probinsya na po (we will be serving 600,000 household beneficiaries from 12 regions and more provinces under this program).”

According to Punay, the expansion was supported by the release of funds under the Asian Development Bank (ADB) loan agreement as part of the Reducing Food Insecurity and Undernutrition with Electronic Vouchers (REFUEL) Project.

“The funding provided by the national government in the General Appropriations Act amounted to PHP1.9 billion. This is only sufficient to serve 50,000 beneficiaries for one year. Therefore, our economic managers strategized by negotiating and arranging a loan agreement with the ADB,” he said.

The DSWD’s REFUEL project is implemented in partnership with the ADB, Agence Française de Développement (AFD), and the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID).

It aims to assist 750,000 households across 22 provinces.

The project will provide these households with PHP3,000 each in monthly food credits, which can be used to purchase nutritious food items from DSWD-accredited stores.

Punay highlighted the positive outcomes of the WGP, citing findings from the Social Weather Stations (SWS).

According to the SWS survey, the incidence of hunger among WGP beneficiaries decreased by 7.2 percent over six months from October 2024 to March 2025.

Based on SWS data, the incidence of involuntary hunger among WGP beneficiaries decreased to 41 percent in March this year from 48.7 percent in October 2024. (PNA)