By Dean Aubrey Caratiquet
Consistent with President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s directive to end hunger prevalence in the Philippines, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) continues to work on improving the Walang Gutom Program (WGP) to cater to its intended beneficiaries.
At the Palace press briefing on Wednesday, DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian shared the results of a private-sector commissioned Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey for the WGP conducted in March 2025.
The survey revealed a 7.2% drop in hunger incidence among WGP beneficiaries in 10 regions and 22 provinces covered by the government’s hunger eradication program over 6 months, from October 2024 to March 2025.
Secretary Gatchalian lauded the figures in the SWS survey, vowing to sustain the momentum of WGP, “We are seeing early signs of success of the Walang Gutom Program. And as instructed by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., we will expand the program further to 600,000 beneficiaries in the second half of the year to make a bigger and more tangible impact on food-poor Filipino households.”
The Social Welfare chief added, “We are pleased with the favorable results that clearly show the positive impact of the WGP on the food-poor beneficiaries. Consequently, we will continue to develop ways to make the program more responsive to address the food insecurity of the program’s beneficiaries.”
The sharpest reduction was seen in the BARMM-Plus cluster—which include the provinces of Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, Maguindanao del Norte, Maguindanao del Sur, Lanao del Sur, and Zamboanga Sibugay—where hunger incidence fell by 17.4%. Almost a third of the existing WGP beneficiaries are in the BARMM provinces where the highest prevalence of hunger was also recorded.
It also mirrored the latest results of the regular SWS survey on involuntary hunger, which showed a 3.9% drop in the number of Filipino families experiencing involuntary hunger—from 20% in April to 16.1% in June.
Gatchalian likewise noted that these survey results reflect the effectiveness of the WGP, making a welcome change in the lives of food insecure and deprived Filipinos across the archipelago.
Launched in 2023 by virtue of Executive Order No. 44, the WGP aims to ensure that 750,000 food-poor Filipino families will gain stable access to nutritious and quality food by 2027.
The program’s beneficiaries receive P3,000 monthly food credits via Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards, redeemable at partner sellers.
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