SEN. Francis Pangilinan has filed a bill seeking to institutionalize the government’s Walang Gutom Program as a more coherent and durable national response to pervasive hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition.
Senate Bill 2379, which shall be known as the “Walang Gutom Act of 2026,” seeks to establish a more durable legal basis for the program, which relies primarily on executive and administrative issuances rather than actual legislation.
Pangilinan, a longtime champion of food security, said that the measure recognizes that hunger is not simply a household problem but a national issue that requires a whole-of-government response.
”No matter what progress or success we achieve in terms of economic figures, it is meaningless if our fellow citizens — especially schoolchildren — are going hungry. A nation cannot truly prosper while leaving behind countrymen whose stomachs are empty,” he said.
The senator added that institutionalizing the program would help ensure that assistance to food-insecure families does not depend solely on short-term or temporary interventions.
”Assistance should not vary depending on the program or who is sitting. We need a stable and consistent system to ensure that every family in need has food,” he added.
Launched in 2023 and further strengthened in 2024 through Executive Order 44, the Walang Gutom Program serves as the Philippine government’s flagship anti-hunger program based on the directive of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to combat food insecurity and reduce involuntary hunger among Filipino families.
Under the program, beneficiaries receive P3,000 monthly food credits that they can use to purchase nutritious food items from Department of Social Welfare and Development-accredited retailers.
Under Pangilinan’s bill, the Walang Gutom Program would provide targeted food assistance to vulnerable and food-insecure households while strengthening linkages with local agricultural and fisheries producers.
He said it can serve a dual purpose: putting food on the tables of Filipino families who need it most while ensuring that government support also reaches the farmers and fisherfolk who produce the country’s food.
The measure states that the Walang Gutom Program must be linked to relevant programs of the Department of Agriculture, such as the Cadiz outlets and food-for-school programs.
It provides for agriculture and supply chain linkages that will source food directly from local farmers and fisherfolk.