The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has started distributing food baskets worth P3,000.00 to 1,824 poor families in Catanduanes who have been identified as beneficiaries of the Walang Gutom Program (WGP) of the national government.
Last week, some 500 recipients from Virac and San Miguel gathered at the Calatagan Proper multi-purpose building and were given Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards that were used in claiming assorted food items from the DSWD’s contracted supplier.
One food package contained 25 kilos of rice, 30 pieces of large eggs, 1.2 kilos of chicken, 0.70 kilo of tinapa or smoked fish, 1 piece of sayote, two big apples, an eggplant, a half kilo of carrots, three big ponkan oranges, a half-kilo of tomato and a kilo of cabbage,
The other package consisted of 25 kilos of rice, a kilo of potatoes, 30 pieces of large eggs, a kilo of pork chop, 0.55 kilo of tinapa, a piece of upo, a half-kilo of sitaw, a half-kilo of Baguio petchay, a half-kilo of carrots, a piece of sayote, three big apples, a half-kilo of tomato, and three big ponkan oranges.
The number of WGP beneficiaries by town is as follows: Virac, 389; Caramoran, 382; Pandan, 297; Bato, 194; San Andres, 189; San Miguel, 130; Gigmoto, 102; Viga, 58; Panganiban, 45; and Bagamanoc, 38.
It is not yet clear if the island recipients belong to the 44,000 new beneficiaries in Bicol who were included in WGP this year, in addition to the existing 30,000 household beneficiaries.
DSWD-5 Regional Director Norman Laurio has stated that the beneficiaries were verified using the Listahanan 3 (L3) and the Community-Based Monitoring System (CBMS) of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
Identified households underwent verification from December 2025 until Feb. 7, 2026 with the use of the Walang Gutom Indicator (WaGi) tool, which serves as a basis for determining a family’s status and situation and the extent of their food assistance needs, he said.
After verification at the regional level, the DSWD central office also determined whether the verified households belonged to the bottom one million food-poor families.
Funding for existing 2025 beneficiaries comes from the General Appropriation Act of 2026 while newly onboarded beneficiaries are funded by the Reducing Food Insecurity and Undernutrition with Electronic Vouchers (REFUEL) Project, RD Laurio added.
Under the WGP, beneficiaries receive PHP3,000 in food credits provided through Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards, which they can use, on a scheduled date, to purchase nutritious food items from DSWD-accredited retailers.
Each household beneficiary can redeem 36 times, with the redemption done in batches but on a staggered basis.
The DSWD stressed that the program not only addresses immediate hunger but also fosters long-term food security through integrated livelihood support and sustainable feeding programs.
It added that the WGP emphasizes access to nutritious food, encouraging families to gradually adopt healthier eating habits while ensuring they have enough to meet daily needs.