Angat Buhay, in partnership with ASA Philippines Foundation and Maginhawa Food Community, officially launched the “Kusina ng Pag-asa” initiative on Monday, April 20.
The program aims to build the country’s first community-led network of kitchens in the Philippines capable of delivering hot meals within hours of a disaster.
Held at Novotel Araneta City, the launch gathered government agencies, private sector partners, and food entrepreneurs in a bid to establish a system that ensures every family in an evacuation center does not have to wait days for warm food.
The Philippines faces a multi-crisis reality: earthquakes, typhoons, and man-made disasters occuring with increasing frequency and intensity. For affected families, the loss of homes often means losing access to safe, sufficient, and freshly prepared food.
Undersecretary Diana Rose S. Cajipe of the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) Disaster Response Management Group noted that government efforts alone are not enough.
“How can you be prepared really for something as unpredictable… Which is why, right now, we become proactive instead of reactive. We anticipate,” Cajipe said during the launch.
Typically, relief operations scramble to mobilize resources only after a disaster strikes, as coordination happens under pressure, often leading to delays. Kusina ng Pag-asa aims to compress that timeline by front-loading preparation, building systems during the calm before the storm.
“The willingness to help is always there… But what often needs strengthening is the system’s readiness to deliver support at the speed and scale required,” said Raffy Magno, Executive Director of Angat Buhay, during the program. “Kusina ng Pag-asa is a step toward a more organized, responsive, and humane system of food support.”
The Kusina ng Pag-asa is structured around three core pillars: partner kitchens, resource generation, and rapid activation.
Unlike temporary setups, this network uses existing restaurants, karinderyas, and community kitchens already embedded in neighborhoods. These partners will undergo training and formal agreements so they can be immediately activated when a disaster strikes.
The network also sustains itself between disasters. Partner kitchens double as resource generation hubs, running donation drives within their own restaurants.
“This is what makes Kusina ng Pag-asa sustainable in a way that most relief programs are not,” explained Rafael Lopa, President of ASA Philippines Foundation and Angat Buhay, during the launch. “It builds its own resource base, continuously, community by community, so that the operational fund is always growing.”
The program ensures that help arrives with dignity for the communities most exposed to disasters.
That means planning for halal options, dietary restrictions, and reaching the hardest-to-reach barangays, not just those easiest to access.
At the core of this program is a principle Angat Buhay has long held. As Lopa shared in the event, “Tutulong na rin lang, tumulong na nang maayos (If you’re going to help, do it properly).”
”In the middle of a disaster, a warm, safe, properly prepared meal is not a luxury. It is a lifeline,” Lopa added. “It tells a family in an evacuation center: hindi kayo nakalimutan (you were not forgotten).”
With the network now launched, the focus shifts to expansion. The Maginhawa Food Community will serve as the pilot implementer, with a goal to scale the model to food communities across the country.
DSWD has signaled its full support, with Undersecretary Cajipe noting that the initiative strengthens existing government systems, including the department’s Family Food Pack distribution and Disaster Response Operations Monitoring Center.
”We will strengthen our kitchens through trainings. When the time comes, we will not hesitate, we already know what to do,” said Jules Guiang, President of Maginhawa Food Community, during the program.
“Kusina ng Pag-asa is not just a project. This is a movement,” Guiang said.
