The national government is planning to stage the Food Stamp Program through the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) which aims to end the culture of dependency and encourage unemployed Filipinos to work for their food and not merely rely on dole-outs from the government and non-governmental organizations for their day-to-day living.
The project if implemented shall cost P40 billion but beneficiaries of it shall be required to join government job-generating programs and should establish proofs that they are looking for work as certified by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA).
Initially, the program targets those who have been identified as “food poor” or those who cannot afford to eat more than one meal a day and earns less than P8,000 per month. The program is expected to benefit 1 million households and is expected to produce workers for community-based projects.
The Food Stamp Program shall use tap cards to address involuntary hunger of marginalized people identified and profiled by the DSWD. Beneficiaries shall receive P3,000 a month in credit and can be used to purchase food from grocery stores, supermarkets and through the government-run Kadiwa centers.
At present, the government is implementing the conditional cash transfer program Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program or 4Ps, the Assistance for Individuals in Crisis Situations (AICS), the Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers Program (TUPAD). The said programs are dole-out financial assistance which many from the marginalized have been used to.
Sadly, there are reported beneficiaries from the dole-out programs which use the said assistances to other gambling and other spendings far from what they are intended for. These financial assistance programs are meant to assist families to finance micro-businesses, some backyard livelihood source and other income-generating activities primarily for poverty alleviation.
There are even reports that many beneficiaries pawn their Automated Teller Machine (ATM) cards to financers so they can easily and immediately use their dole-out benefits despite their deducted amount for interest due to pawning. In other words, the aim of these dole-out programs is deviated to beneficiaries simply spending the money from the government which were supposedly for livelihood generation.
Should the cash assistances be converted to “in kind” assistances, beneficiaries would not be able to pawn their benefits and will be utilized directly for their food supply. With this new program, the government will be spending funds which will be compensated through the labor of its benefits.
The dole-out assistance is not far different from alms given to beggars which discourages the latter from finding work or any source of livelihood and just merely rely on government assistance for their living. We have to end the culture of dependency indeed.
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