The Department of Social Welfare and Development in Bicol (DSWD-5) will expand its “Walang Gutom Program” (WGP) to include 44,000 new beneficiaries this year, adding to the existing nearly 30,000 household beneficiaries in the region.

In an interview on Wednesday, DSWD-5 Regional Director Norman Laurio said of the 44,000 new beneficiaries from the six provinces in the region, 9,618 have already redeemed their food credits.

Laurio said the beneficiaries were verified using the Listahanan 3 (L3) and the Community-Based Monitoring System (CBMS) of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

“All identified households from L3 and CBMS [undergoing] verification activities from December 2025 until Feb. 7, 2026. Using the Walang Gutom Indicator (WaGi) tool, which serves as a basis for determining a family’s status and situation, the extent of their food assistance needs was also assessed. After they were verified at the regional level, the central office determined whether these verified households belonged to the bottom one million food-poor families,” he said.

Laurio said redemption by beneficiaries, particularly those newly onboarded, is done in batches.

“Promoting healthy foods as a way to address hunger. We reach out to the nutrition aspect, but the center of the program is to ensure that every household has enough and good food,” said Laurio, as he encouraged beneficiaries to eat healthy foods and gradually change their nutritional habits and outlook.

Laurio said funding for existing 2025 beneficiaries comes from the General Appropriation Act of 2026, while newly onboarded beneficiaries are funded by the Reducing Food Insecurity and Undernutrition with Electronic Vouchers (REFUEL) Project.

Under the WGP, beneficiaries receive PHP3,000 in food credits provided through Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards, which they can use, on a scheduled date, to purchase nutritious food items from DSWD-accredited retailers.

Laurio said each household beneficiary can redeem 36 times, adding, “As long as they do not complete the 36 redemptions, they will continue to receive benefits from the program.”

“We cannot assure that redemption of benefits is actually monthly because there are factors that actually delay redemption, such as the delay in disbursement of the fund and natural calamities that may hamper the production and delivery of food commodities,” he said.

Evelyn Baybayon Yanzon, a 63-year-old food vendor from Sta. Teresita, Cataingan, Masbate who redeemed her credits for a food basket, said the program would help them meet her family’s daily nutrional needs.

“I am very grateful to the government for helping us supplement our expenses for our children. This is a very big help since our food is not enough, especially since my children are studying. So I am very grateful to the DSWD Walang Gutom Program that helps everyone,” said the grandmother of seven. (PNA)