DSWD excludes Bohol

In Walang Gutom ‘27

TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol (PIA)—If it were his call, Governor Erico Aristotle Aumentado would still include Boholanos in the government’s food package in the Department of Social welfare and Development’s Walang Gutom Program 2027 (WGP) as revitalized Food Stamps program.

Incidentally however, Bohol does not qualify for the program yet, according to DSWD Regional Director Shalaine Lucero, during the recent Regional Development Council Meeting, June 11, at the Ceremonial Hall of the Bohol Capitol.

The DSWD said the WGP has only Cebu and Negros Oriental as Central Visayas beneficiaries, and around 30,000 of them can redeem food packages per month

One of the DSWD flagship programs, WGP 2027 is basically food provision through Strategic Transfer and Alternative Measures Program (Food STAMP) to decrease incidence of involuntary hunger experienced by low-income households and make them productive citizens of the country.

Implemented through a whole-of-nation approach, the program aims to provide monetary-based assistance in the form of an Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) card loaded with food credits worth P 3,000 to purchase a select list of food commodities from DSWD identified partner merchant stores.

The program highlights a mechanism for the delivery of social protection interventions through the use of digital platforms to access food.

A program for identified involuntary hunger victims, WGP 2027 hands out EBT card containing 3,000 in food credits for food commodities, with 50% of it allocated to carbohydrates, 30% of the amount for proteins, and 20% for fruits and vegetables.

Central Visayas beneficiaries include 17,489 households from Negros Oriental’s 23 towns and cities and another 12,680 beneficiaries from 48 towns and cities within Cebu Province.

Governor Aumentado, who chairs the RDC, found it rather odd, why Bohol was not among the beneficiaries.

However, RD Lucero said the data for the program came from the Philippine Statistics Authority’s Family Income and expenditures Survey (FIES) where the national government picked 34 provinces whom they identified as priority for the Philippine Plan of Action for Nutrition (PPAN).

These 34 provinces, verified also under the Poverty Data in 2023, have been found out to have the most pervasive number of households with hunger problems.

In the list is Cebu at Number 7 and Negros Oriental at Number 18.

As to the poverty data for example, to the magnitude of subsistence poor families, Bohol only has 13.33 while Cebu has 40.09; the regional average of 53.43.

This places Bohol at rank number 20 while Cebu ranks 2nd.

Magnitude of poor population lists Bohol at 83.76 while Cebu is at 269.88. This places Bohol at rank number 25 while placing Cebu at rank No. 2.

For Bohol’s subsistence incidence among population, Bohol has 6.0 while Cebu has 5.1 and a regional average of 5.3 Placing Bohol at a further rank of 31 and much more of the population in Cebu at a deplorable subsistence level.

In short, in the 34 PPAN priority provinces, Cebu sits in the 7th place, Negros Oriental at 18th.

For the 34 provinces with high incidence of subsistence poor families, Cebu ranks 2nd while Bohol is at the 20th and Negros Oriental is at the 11th place, as to the DSWD.

To this however, RD Lucero said there is still hope as the next tranche of the program would now include more provinces and she hopes Bohol could be in it. (PIAbohol)

IN THE NEXT BATCH. DSWD Regional Director Shalaine Marie Lucero explains to Governor Erico Aristotle Aumentado and the media why Bohol was not among the beneficiaries of the Walang Gutom Program. She said Bohol has better conditions compared to Cebu and Negros. (PIAbohol)