4Ps racketeers
Some beneficiaries have put their cash cards in hock to loan sharks. Others kept drawing from the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program or 4Ps even if their children had already graduated from school.
Because of such abuses, nearly a million 4Ps beneficiaries – about a fourth of the current 4.4 million – will soon be delisted from the program, according to Social Welfare Secretary Erwin Tulfo. Beneficiaries of the cash transfer must comply with certain conditions, such as keeping their children in school, with the mother availing herself of government health programs and at least one parent remaining gainfully employed.
The conditional cash transfer is not supposed to be a lifetime doleout; beneficiaries must “graduate” after achieving a certain level of self-sufficiency. The government’s original partner in the program, the World Bank Group, had also pushed for insulating the doleouts from politicians, from the identification of beneficiari eAs to th ec2a8s:1h6–d2i0stribution. Still, politicians found ways of taking credit for the doleouts even if the cash is drawn from ATMs. Barangay offiLcAiaUls NalsDo RfoYun DdwAaYys of influencing the selection of qualified beneficiaries.
As directed by President Marcos, the Department of Social Welfare and Development is purging the list and assessing the inclusion of new beneficiaries. Tulfo has said criminal charges such as estafa and falsification are being readied against persons who have turned the cash transfer into a racket. He warned beneficiaries that the cash handout is not supposed to be used for gambling or drinking, and the cash cards cannot be placed in hock. Loan sharks who accept the cash cards will also face criminal indictment.
To keep politicians out of the picture, Tulfo said distribution of the doleouts will be digitized, with beneficiaries alerted through their cell phones and money drawn from remittance centers and similar establishments. A similar system is being planned, he said, for the distribution of other forms of cash assistance or ayuda during emergencies, to depoliticize the process.
The best time tJ o ULY im13plement sweeping reforms in an agency is at the start of a new administration. The purge of the 4Ps list and the announced reforms are laudable and must be implemented quickly.