PRRD Vows 4Ps Expansion

President Rodrigo Duterte pledged to expand the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps).

“Unya niingon ko na ang Pantawid dugangan ko pa na. Naa koy bag-o sa DSWD,” (Then I say that Pantawid, I will add more. That is what’s new with DSWD.) President Duterte stressed in his speech during the ceremonial distribution of Certificates of Land Ownership Award (CLOAs) in Sagay City, Negros Occidental.

The 4Ps is the government’s human development measure devoted for the health and education of poor families, mainly of children aged 0-18 years old.

Cash grants are provided to the beneficiaries as they fulfill the set of conditions obliged by the program.

According to the DSWD-6 press statement, the implementation of 4Ps is patterned after the conditional cash transfer (CCT) schemes in Latin America and African countries, which have lifted the lives of people from poverty.

“The average number of children of Filipino families in the mountains is six. But here in the city, people don’t have a lot of spare time, so they only have two or three. So you shouldn’t have too many children. I feel sorry for the person. I feel sorry when I see a child walking around naked, or when I see a Filipino grow up without a house, without adequate food. When they get sick, they can’t afford to buy medicine,” the President said.

Data from the DSWD showed that there are 4.3 million households covered by the program in the country.

In Western Visayas, there are 307,183 household beneficiaries.

Meanwhile, records from the Regional Program Management Office for Pantawid Pamilya said that beneficiaries are compliant with the program conditions.

Under the health condition which includes pre-natal, post-natal check-ups, and immunizations, the compliance level was pegged at 96.49 percent last year among children zero to five years of age and pregnant women.

In terms of Family Development Sessions (FDS), the compliance rate was at 95.78 percent for the same period.

The FDS is considered a vital intervention to realize household development and strengthen the human capital of families.

Further, the compliance for the education condition reached 83.30 percent.

During the CLOA distribution, DSWD Secretary Rolando Joselito Bautista along with other cabinet members joined President Duterte.

DSWD-6 Regional Director Ma. Evelyn B. Macapobre was also in Sagay and met with the DSWD staff assigned in Bacolod City and the province prior to the arrival of the President. (LTP/LML-PIA6 Negros Occidental)