Poverty is one of the main reasons why the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program or 4Ps has flourished. For 12 sustainable years, the initiative has been embracing fellow Filipinos with open arms.
The 4Ps is a human development program that invests in the health and education of poor households, particularly minors aged 0-18.
The government patterned the program from developing countries to fight poverty and provide assistance through cash grants given to the families or beneficiaries that comply with the conditions set by the project.
In the Philippines, the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program serves as a vehicle to combat the poverty cycle in Filipino households. Implemented by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), it is one of the key poverty alleviation programs of the national government that seeks to contribute in breaking the intergenerational transmission of poverty in the country.
The social welfare department continues to improve the service of 4Ps, from back-to-school projects to small enterprises, and with it, the battle against poverty alleviation has come a long way.
In the statistics posted on the official website of the DSWD, around 4.9 million poor households have received benefits from the program since its inception in 2008.
The social developmental campaign has four different packages that supply different aids to those who need them.
A household is entitled to receive the following grants:
Health Grant
With the health grant, every household beneficiaries receive P500 per month and a requirement to attend the monthly Family Development Session.
Education Grant
Every child, part of the grant from a household with a maximum of three persons, receives a total of P300 for elementary students, and P500 per pupil in high school. The grant will also run for the whole academic year only or 10 months.
Rice Subsidy
An active, compliant and registered Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program household beneficiary will also collect a rice subsidy that amounts to P600 per month or P7,200 a year.
Unconditional Cash Transfer Subsidy or UCT Subsidy
The government’s Unconditional Cash Transfer program is the tax subsidy provided under the TRAIN law to help the poor cushion the adverse economic effects of the policy. The top-up cash subsidies amount to P200 a month for 2018 and P300 a month for 2019 and 2020.
Conditionalities
Listed here are the main conditions needed by a beneficiary to comply in order to receive full access to the social assistance:
1. Parents must attend family development sessions.
2. Pregnant women must avail of pre- natal and post-natal care and be attended during childbirth by a trained health professional.
3. 0-5-year-old children must receive regular preventive health check-ups and vaccines.
4. 6-14 years old children must receive deworming pills twice a year.
5. All child beneficiaries (0-18 years old) must enroll in school and maintain class attendance of at least 85% per month.
As of March 2019, there are 4.2 million active households/beneficiaries in 41,539 barangays from 1,482 municipalities receiving grants from the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program.
To know more about the 4Ps’ initiative, visit official website https://pantawid.dswd.gov.ph/about/.