A total 588 families, or about 2,940 individuals, have gone out of the government’s conditional cash transfer program 4Ps, carrying with them certificates of recognition from the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
According to witnesses, the family-beneficiaries have completed at most five years receiving cash grants from the government and received their certificates in a ceremony at the Cuneta Astrodome in Pasay City.
4Ps National Program Manager Gemma Gabuya said some 400,000 beneficiaries were still in the program but stopped short of announcing any graduation timeline.
According to DSWD, a family-beneficiary will be considered as a self-sufficient household if it has enough income at the time of graduation; is able to cope with the family’s daily needs; and has achieved the first two levels of Social Worker Development Indicators, which are Survival and Subsistence Levels, respectively.
The graduates will also be monitored by their respective local government units for possible provision of other appropriate assistance to enable them to sustain or further improve their economic status.
The Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) is a poverty alleviation program of the national government that provides conditional cash grants to extremely poor households to improve their health, nutrition, and education particularly of children aged 0-14.
Earlier on, the DSWD said at least 93,600 of the 1.3 million households deemed “non-poor” by the agency could be delisted from the 4Ps.
At the public briefing on PTV, DSWD spokesperson Assistant Secretary Romel Lopez said that at least 22 percent of these 1.3 million households had been validated as “non-poor.”
He said over 1 million beneficiaries of the 1.3 million households were undergoing field validation and right now 22 percent had been validated, with 93,600 to be possibly recommended for removal from the program because they had achieved the status of “non-poor.”
The DSWD has allotted P115 billion for the 4Ps program under its proposed 2023 budget.
Under the 4Ps law, its beneficiaries can be delisted under the following grounds: the household’s youngest child already finished senior high school; the household has been in the program for seven straight years; when a household commits offenses/violates conditions for the cash grant; voluntary exit on the part of the beneficiary; and DSWD deeming a household non-poor based on evaluation.
DSWD Secretary Erwin Tulfo earlier said that 1.3 million households were now categorized as “non-poor,” meaning they are no longer qualified to receive the cash assistance from the national government.