About 750,000 new beneficiaries have been listed for the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), replacing 800,000 who graduated from the government’s financial aid program, Social Welfare Secretary Rex Gatchalian said Friday.
“We recorded 750,000 beneficiaries who will replace those who graduated from 4Ps based on the database of Listahanan 2019-2020,” the newly-appointed secretary told GMA News TV.
The 1.3 million beneficiaries of the program were revalidated since the number was “outdated,” meaning some of them are no longer considered poor, the former Valenzuela City mayor and lawmaker added.
When he assumed his post, Gatchalian said he would prioritize fixing the list of beneficiaries under the programs of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
However, Gatchalian said the DSWD will stop creating its own database for beneficiaries and will now depend on the database by the Philippines Statistics Authority (PSA) as stated in the Community-Based Monitoring System law.
“It is stated in this law that by the end of this year, no other databases will be used except for the CBMS database, so the records would be really unified,” he said.
Gatchalian said he and National Statistician and PSA chief Claire Dennis Mapa discussed the matter during a meeting on Thursday.
According to the PSA, the law enables the Philippines’ adoption of a monitoring system that generates updated disaggregated data necessary for targeting beneficiaries, conducting more comprehensive poverty analysis and needs prioritization, designing appropriate policies and interventions, and monitoring impact over time.
The DSWD and PSA are now calling on lawmakers and funding agencies to provide a budget to finish the database by the end of 2023.
Previously, Tutok To Win Party-list Rep. Sam Verzosa Jr. on Thursday amplified his firm belief in the necessity of passing an expanded Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) law to create economic opportunity among adult beneficiaries of the program.
Verzosa, who led the deliberations of the Technical Working Group (TWG) of the committee on the substitute bill, hailed its approval last week by the House Poverty Alleviation panel.
The substitute bill was a product of House Bill (HB) No. 2422, authored by Rep. Gus Tambunting (Parañaque, 2nd District), and HB No. 4366 by Agri Party-List Rep. Wilbert Lee. With Maricel V. Cruz (See full story online at manilastandard.net)
“We need to make inclusive all our entrepreneurship, livelihood, and economic opportunities. It must include the poorest sectors of society. If they lack enough education, we should provide alternative learning systems to help them. We need to prepare them find employment,” he said.
Verzosa earlier led consultations with the Samahan ng Nagkakaisang Pamilyang Pilipino (SNPP) and various government agencies over the amendments to the Expanded 4Ps Law, which aim to provide education, employment, and livelihood assistance to adult 4Ps beneficiaries.
The substitute bill is entitled: “An Act Promoting Inclusive Education, Entrepreneurship, and Employment for Sustainable Development among 4Ps Adult Beneficiaries.”
It aims to amend Republic Act No. 11310 or “An Act Institutionalizing the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps).” Its short title is “Expanded Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) Act.”
It is expected to create education, entrepreneurship, livelihood, and economic opportunities for 4Ps beneficiaries.
The most recent data reported by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) indicated that the Philippines’ gross domestic product (GDP) expanded by 7.6 percent in 2022. This is the second-highest growth rate, next only to the 8.8 percent economic growth rate recorded in 1976.
Verzosa said, however, that despite the good news, there are still poor Filipinos below the poverty line in the country.
“So I’m happy that the committee approved the Expanded 4Ps law which is an effective way to make our economic growth inclusive and that more Filipinos will have improved lives,” he said.
Expanded 4Ps Law practically aims to enlarge the number of 4Ps recipients and to provide skills training to adult 4Ps beneficiaries through non-formal education track, employment track, and entrepreneurship track.
There are an estimated 4.2 million individual 4Ps recipients at present. It will also provide post-skills interventions to help adult 4Ps beneficiaries to look for jobs or put up businesses.
The TWG meeting was attended by panelists from the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), Department of Justice (DOJ), Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC), National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), Philippine National Police (PNP), Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA). With Maricel V. Cruz