14 M families to get P101-B cash grants next year

Some 14 million families will receive P101.1 billion in cash grants next year under the government’s Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program or 4Ps.

Additionally, P23.2 billion will be handed out to poor senior citizens who will get a monthly stipend of P500 each.

These allocations are part of the proposed P156.7-billion budget for 2020 of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), which implements 4Ps and the senior citizen assistance program.

Actually, P108.8 billion is budgeted for 4Ps, of which P101.1 billion

will go to cash assistance to qualified poor families identified by the DSWD.

The remaining P7.7 billion will go to administrative expenses such as salaries and banks that will handle the funds, the bulk of which is coursed through state-owned Land Bank.

Land Bank and other conduit banks will share P509 million of the funds for 4Ps.

Grants under the program are divided into conditional doles, beneficiaries of which have to meet requirements like having their children remain enrolled in schools and attendance in family development seminars and unconditional transfers of P200 a month. Deputy Speaker Rep. Mikee Romero of party-list group 1-Pacman has filed Bill 184 to increase the unconditional monthly assistance to P500.

“The increase will enable beneficiaries to cope with the rising cost of living. It is a more realistic amount in achieving the goals of the unconditional cash transfer part of 4Ps,” Romero said.

He said the government could afford the adjustment given the huge amount of additional revenues from the comprehensive tax reform program.

In another bill, Romero proposed requiring Land Bank to set aside at least 60 percent of its loan funds for lending to farmers and fishermen.

He said the state-owned financial institution should not compete with private commercial banks “because its mandate under the law creating it is different.”

“It was set up to help farmers and fishermen, and spur development in the countryside through lending,” he said.

Romero lamented that of the P675 billion in loans Land Bank granted in 2017, “less than one percent was for the farming and fishing sectors.”

“No wonder President Duterte expressed his frustration in his State of the Nation Address (SONA) in July over how the government bank was conducting its lending activities and neglecting the sectors it is supposed to serve,” he said.

In his SONA, the President threatened to shut down Land Bank because he said it was “mired in so many commercial transactions.”