Senator Kiko Pangilinan is asking the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to allocate a portion of its proposed budget for food programs in 2026 to buying from farmers and fisherfolk without public bidding under the 2019 Sagip Saka Act.
The Sagip Saka Act is a landmark law authored by Pangilinan and enacted in 2019, allowing national government agencies and local government units to buy food directly from farmers and fisherfolk without public bidding.
“The Sagip Saka Act was not fully implemented despite being a law since 2019.”
The veteran legislator lamented how the Sagip Saka Act was not fully implemented despite being a law since 2019 because of the lack of Implementing Rules and Regulations and necessary resolutions.
“With the EOs (Executive Order Nos. 101 and 101), with the GPPB (Government Procurement Policy Board) resolution, I am assuming that the bulk of these purchases—not necessarily 100% but I think significant amount of your budget for pork, fish, chicken, rice—could be purchased directly from farmers and fisherfolk organizations,” the seasoned lawmaker said during his interpellation of the budget deliberations for the 2026 allocation to the DSWD.
“We need information dissemination.”
The senator also underscored the need for information dissemination, pointing out that many LGUs are unaware of the Sagip Saka provisions.
The chair of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Food, and Agrarian Reform also sought more information on the breakdown of each commodity—rice, pork, chicken, vegetables, eggs, etc.—that the agency purchases for its various food programs.
Some of the stated DSWD food programs during the interpellation are the P9.41 billion allocation for supplemental feeding, P3 billion for quick response funds for disasters, around P160 million for the Bangsamoro Umpungan sa Nutrisyon (BangUN), and P1.89 billion for the Walang Gutom Program.
About P641 million worth of contracts under the Enhanced Partnership Against Hunger and Poverty (EPAHP) is also being earmarked, Senator Pia Cayetano, the sponsor of the proposed 2026 budget for the DSWD, said.
A convergence program, the EPAHP partners government agencies and LGUs with community-based organizations to address hunger, alleviate poverty, and improve food security.
Pangilinan is pushing the DSWD to scale up such programs to directly benefit farmers and fisherfolk, explaining how livelihood and development in the rural areas can prevent migration abroad and to urban centers, thereby improving overall local food production and securing the country’s food needs.
