By Brian Campued
In support of the administration’s bid to address involuntary hunger among vulnerable Filipinos, First Lady Liza Marcos and Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Rex Gatchalian on Monday led the launch of “Walang Gutom Kitchen” in Pasay City.
The Walang Gutom Kitchen, located at a former POGO building-turned DSWD Pag-Abot Center, serves as a community services hub catering to children, individuals, and families in street situations who are experiencing involuntary hunger and homelessness.
Gatchalian said the food bank project also aims to help minimize food wastage through public-private partnerships, such as donations from restaurants, hotels, or fast food chains.
Developmental programs, such as parenting education sessions, substance abuse prevention, and character building activities, as well as learning spaces, can also be accessed by beneficiaries in the multi-purpose facility.
“Ang DSWD ang pangunahing ahensiya na naatasan ng ating Pangulong [Ferdinand R.] Marcos [Jr.] na tugunan ang kahirapan at kagutuman sa bansa. Kaugnay nito, ang DSWD ay patuloy na nagbabahagi ng mga programa at serbisyo upang tiyakin na walang Pilipino ang makakaranas ng gutom, nananatili sa lansangan, at walang tahanan,” Gatchalian said in a keynote speech.
The new initiative is also a “convergence” of the three programs of the agency: the Pag-Abot Program, aimed at providing temporary shelters and interventions to displaced individuals and helping them return home; the Walang Gutom Food Stamp Program, granting P3,000 food credits to beneficiaries that can be used to buy food in accredited stores; and the Tara Basa! Tutoring Program, a reformatted educational assistance wherein college students are tapped to tutor poor and struggling readers in public elementary schools.
Gatchalian, likewise, said that the kitchen project is set to be expanded nationwide, encouraging the culture of donation of food for charitable purposes.
“Ang plano natin is to expand it later on and open more of its branches so that ‘yung mga kababayan natin na nasa pribadong sektor na may excess na pagkain, pwede nilang maibaba rito sa Walang Gutom Kitchen para yung mga nagugutom nating mga kababayan, pwedeng-pwedeng pumunta rito anytime para makakuha ng libreng pagkain,” he said.
He also urged private citizens who have the capacity to provide aid to donate any type of food and drink donation to the facility.
“Sa pamamagitan ng ating sama-samang pagsisikap, makakasigurado tayong walang bata, walang pamilya, at walang indibidwal na maiiwanan. Dahil bawat buhay ay mahalaga sa Bagong Pilipinas,” Gatchalian said.
-av