DSWD-10: keep politics out of 4Ps
THE Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD)-Northern Mindanao reminds beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) that they are free to decide who to choose in the upcoming barangay and youth elections, assuring the public that candidates do not have a hand in selecting 4Ps beneficiaries.
Oliver Inodeo, Pantawid Pamilya information officer, said DSWD continues to promote the beneficiaries’ rights to participate in the electoral process.
Inodeo assured the public that the program shall not be used for advancing political campaigns of any candidate, group, political parties, and the likes during the entire election period.
4Ps is a conditional cash transfer program of the government that aims to address poverty problem of Filipino households on a short-term basis, investing in health and education of the kids’ ages 18 years old and below.
Inodeo said only those families who failed to follow the requirements and conditionalities of the program will be delisted.
“Only they will be suspended or delisted from the program if these conditionalities are not met, and not through the orders of politicians,” he said.
The conditionalities include: sending their children to school, bringing them to health centers for check-up, and attending the Family Development Sessions conducted by the DSWD regularly.
Inodeo also urged beneficiaries to report to their social welfare office any threats coming from politicians to delist them from the program.
He said DSWD is set to come up a memorandum of agreement with the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and the Department of Interior and Local Government that would ultimately punish politicians using this to lure voters. The memorandum is hoped to be passed before the elections on May 14.
The DSWD-Northern Mindanao lists over 270,000 households under the 4Ps program.
Inodeo said DSWD workers are also going around the region to spread awareness that politicians do not have the power to delist or enlist people to the program.