The decline in self-rated food poverty nationwide showed that more Filipinos are able to feed their families, a positive sign that government efforts to address hunger are effectively reaching households and helping improve their daily lives, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) said on Tuesday.

Based on the second quarter 2026 Social Weather Station (SWS) survey conducted June 20 to 29 through face-to-face interviews with 1,200 adult respondents, self-rated food poverty declined from 42 percent in March to 36 percent in June.

The survey indicated that the number of self-rated food-poor families decreased from 11.7 million in March to 10.2 million in June.

“The DSWD welcomes this decline in self-rated food poverty. Ibig sabihin po nito ay bumababa na ang bilang ng mga Pilipino na kino-consider na ang kanilang pamilya ay food-poor. Alam natin na marami pa tayong kailangang gawin, pero ang ganitong datos ay nagpapakita na ang ating mga programa laban sa kagutuman ay nasa tamang direksyon at talagang nararamdaman ng ating mga benepisyaryo (It means that the number of Filipinos who consider their families food-poor have decreased. We know that there is still a lot of things to do, but this kind of data shows that our programs against hunger are in the right direction and really felt by our beneficiaries),” DSWD spokesperson Assistant Secretary Irene Dumlao said in a news release Tuesday.

She said the results also highlight the importance of sustaining and strengthening government interventions that address hunger.

“Hindi po ibig sabihin na may improvement ay titigil na tayo sa pagsasaayos ng ating mga programa. Gagamitin natin ang datos na ito upang ma-sustain at ma-enhance pa natin para mas marami tayong matulungan (It doesn’t mean that we will stop renovating our programs because of the improvement. We will use the data to sustain and further enhance our programs to help more people),” she added.

The SWS survey results were also supported by a separate SWS survey, which looked at food poverty among beneficiaries of the Walang Gutom Program (WGP), the Marcos administration’s flagship anti-hunger initiative.

Meanwhile, the proportion of food-poor respondents who were not WGP beneficiaries slightly increased from 84.4 percent to 85.7 percent over the same period.

“Sa utos po ng ating Pangulong Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. at sa direktiba ni Secretary Rex Gatchalian, patuloy natin paiigtingin ang ating mga programa laban sa kagutuman. Malinaw po na may mga positibong pagbabago, pero marami pa rin tayong pamilyang nangangailangan ng suporta. Kaya naman, hindi po tayo titigil dito. Makikipagtulungan tayo sa iba pang ahensya ng gobyerno at mga partners upang matiyak na nakakarating ang tulong sa mga pamilyang higit na nangangailangan (On orders of Presidente Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. and the directives of Secretary Gatchalian, we will continue to intensify our programs against hunger. It is clear that there are positive changes, but many families still needed support. We will not stop. We will work together with other government agencies and private partners to ensure that assistance will reach the families who really needed it),” Dumlao said.

Under the WGP, the DSWD provides food-poor beneficiaries with electronic benefit transfer cards loaded with PHP3,000 monthly food credits that can be used to purchase nutritious food from DSWD-accredited retailers.

The WGP currently serves 600,000 food-poor households nationwide. (PNA)