Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Rex Gatchalian flew to Camarines Sur on Tuesday (August 6) to bring the agency’s Information Caravan for its new flagship programs to the province, including the “Walang Gutom: 2027.”

Secretary Gatchalian explained that the Department has been doing the Walang Gutom Information Caravan around the country these past couple of months to ensure that the local chief executives and other local officials are aware of the new programs of the DSWD before these are rolled out at the local level.

“Mahirap yung nag-roroll out ng program nang hindi tayo bumubusina sa ating mga mayor, sa ating governor, sa ating congressmen. Kasi at the end of the day, kayo ang magpapaliwanag sa inyong mga constituents kung ano ba yung programa at kung bakit ganun yung programa,” the DSWD chief said in his message before local executives present in the info caravan.

Secretary Gatchalian told Camarines Sur local officials that the three new DSWD programs are the Walang Gutom 2027: Food Stamp Program (FSP), Oplan Pag-abot Program, and the Tara, Basa! Tutoring Program.

The DSWD chief explained that these programs fulfill the development part of the agency because they have conditions that will ensure the continuous improvement in the well-being of qualified beneficiaries.

“We always give yung educational assistance, and we like doing that. Pero alam din natin na we have to start putting conditions para hindi puro dole-out tayo,” the DSWD Secretary said as he emphasized on why the agency developed the Tara, Basa! Tutoring Program.

The Tara, Basa! Tutoring Program is the DSWD’s reformatted educational assistance that creates a learning ecosystem, wherein college students are capacitated and deployed as tutors and youth development workers to help improve the reading proficiency of elementary students who are struggling to read or are non-readers.

“Sa Metro Manila, maraming families who live in the streets. We have started reaching out to them and bringing them back home to their home provinces pero this time, with a lot of supervision and monitoring from the regional office,” Secretary Gatchalian said referring to the Oplan Pag-abot Program.

The Oplan Pag-abot Program aims to help, support, and protect individuals and families living in the streets by providing them with appropriate interventions.

To address involuntary hunger, the DSWD launched the Walang Gutom 2027: Food Stamp Program which provides beneficiaries with electronic benefit transfer cards that will be loaded with food credits amounting to Php3,000 to purchase a select list of food commodities.

One of the pilot areas for FSP’s implementation was in the town of Garchitorena in Camarines Sur.

“Ang main goal natin is to change the eating habits of our Filipino families. We have very bad eating habits that’s why late in life puro health issues tayo. The social behavioral change happens because beneficiaries undergo nutrition development sessions…dahil may energy ka na, we want you to become part of the productive labor force of the country,” Secretary Gatchalian said.

After the FSP roll out, Secretary Gatchalian said the DSWD will work with the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) in the launching of job fairs primarily for food-poor families.

“We will require that one adult in the family goes out of their home to work and have gainful employment,” the DSWD chief said.

Aside from the presentation of the programs, Secretary Gatchalian also presided an open forum to address the queries from mayors and other local officials on the status of the DSWD programs and services in Camarines Sur.

A redemption session under the FSP was also held where the beneficiaries in the area had the opportunity to purchase affordable but nutritious food composed of 50 percent carbohydrate-rich food like rice and bread; 30 percent protein-rich food such as chicken and pork; and 20 percent vegetables and fruits from partner-merchants and retailers using their EBT cards.

Other DSWD officials present in the information caravan were Undersecretary for Innovations Edu Punay, Asst. Secretary for Innovations Baldr Bringas, who is also the Officer-In-Charge of the National Program Management Office of the Enhanced Partnership Against Hunger and Poverty (EPAHP), Asst. Secretary and agency Spokesperson Irene Dumlao, and DSWD Field Office-5 (Bicol Region) Regional Director Norman Laurio.#