Higher incentives for 4Ps pushed

Beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) will have a sigh of relief as raising the amount for their conditional cash grants is now being pushed in Congress.

House Minority Leader and 4Ps Partylist Representative Marcelino “Nonoy” Libanan has initiated such a move contending that the purchasing power of the dole outs has been severely eroded by steep increases in the prices of basic commodities.

Given the current conditions, the cash amount being provided to 4Ps beneficiaries may not be enough to achieve the program’s goal to break the intergenerational cycle of poverty, according to Libanan and other 4Ps Partylist Representative Jonathan Clement Abalos II, who both filed House Resolution No. 184.

According to the Department of Social Welfare and Development, the implementer of the 4Ps program, the 4Ps is the government’s major poverty alleviation program that invests in the health, nutrition, and education of poor eligible households. These, with the psychosocial and educational component provided through the Family Development Session (FDS), lead the beneficiaries to have improved and sustained wellbeing

The General Appropriations Act of 2022 has earmarked a total of P99.1 billion this year to pay for the 4Ps cash grants, excluding administrative and other incidental expenses.

Both legislators did not specify in their resolution the exact amount of increase in the cash subsidy that they are seeking for 4Ps beneficiaries.

But Libanan, in a statement said, “a rate of increase at least matching the average annual inflation rate would be a good start.”

Currently, there are 306,281 household beneficiaries under 4Ps in the Central Visayas region.

DSWD-7 earlier stated that 4Ps beneficiaries who complied with the program conditions during a particular period will receive their full grants.

These conditions include sending and keeping schoolaged children in school; pre and post-natal care of mothers; regular and preventive checkups of children aged five and below; deworming of children aged six to 14, and attendance at the monthly FDS.

Based on the law, households may receive P750.00 for compliance with health and FDS; children monitored by the program in elementary will receive P300.00; those in junior high will receive P500.00; and P700.00 for children in senior high school.

It added that the education grants benefit a maximum of three children in a household and cover only 10 months per school year.