How to Become a Pantawid Pamilya Pilipino Program (4 Ps) Member

 Be a Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) Beneficiaries Now! Here's How?

What is 4 Ps?

The Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) is a human development measure of the national government that provides conditional cash grants to the poorest of the poor, to improve the health, nutrition, and the education of children aged 0-18. It is patterned after the conditional cash transfer (CCT) schemes in Latin American and African countries, which have lifted millions of people around the world from poverty.

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is the lead government agency of the 4Ps.

What is its OBJECTIVES?

The 4Ps has dual objectives as the flagship poverty alleviation program of the Aquino administration:

• social assistance, giving monetary support to extremely poor families to respond to their immediate needs; and

• social development, breaking the intergenerational poverty cycle by investing in the health and education of poor children through programs such as:

>health check-ups for pregnant women and children aged 0 to 5;

>deworming of schoolchildren aged 6 to 14;

>enrollment of children in daycare, elementary, and secondary schools; and

>family development sessions.

The 4Ps also helps the Philippine government fulfill its commitment to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)—specifically in eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, in achieving universal primary education, in promoting gender equality, in reducing child mortality, and in improving maternal health care.

What is the COVERAGE?

The 4Ps operates in all the 17 regions in the Philippines, covering 79 provinces, 143 cities, and 1,484 municipalities. Beneficiaries are selected through the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR), which identifies who and where the poor are in the country.

In general, the following criteria must be satisfied to become eligible for the program:

• Residents of the poorest municipalities, based on 2003 Small Area Estimates (SAE) of the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB)

• Households whose economic condition is equal to or below the provincial poverty threshold

• Households that have children 0-18 years old and/or have a pregnant woman at the time of assessment

• Households that agree to meet conditions specified in the program

What are the CASH GRANTS?

The 4Ps has two types of cash grants that are given out to household-beneficiaries:

• health grant: P500 per household every month, or a total of P6,000 every year

• education grant: P300 per child every month for ten months, or a total of P3,000 every year (a household may register a maximum of three children for the program)

For a household with three children, a household may receive P1,400 every month, or a total of P15,000 every year for five years, from the two types of cash grants given to them.

How do the beneficiaries get their money?

The quarterly cash grants shall be received by the most responsible person in the household through a Landbank cash card.

In cases where payment through cash card is not feasible, the beneficiaries shall be provided their cash grants through an alternative payment scheme such as over the counter transactions from the nearest Landbank branch or offsite payments through an authorized rural banks.

 Non-compliance to the conditions will result in the suspension of cash grants or dropping from the program.

These cash grants are distributed to the household-beneficiaries through the Land Bank of the Philippines or, if not feasible, through alternate payment schemes such as Globe G-Cash remittance and rural bank transactions.

What are the CONDITIONS AND COMPLIANCE?

In order to receive the abovementioned subsidies, all the succeeding conditions must be met by the household-beneficiaries:

• Pregnant women must avail pre- and post-natal care, and be attended during childbirth by a trained professional;

• Parents or guardians must attend the family development sessions, which include topics on responsible parenting, health, and nutrition;

• Children aged 0-5 must receive regular preventive health check-ups and vaccines;

• Children aged 6-14 must receive deworming pills twice a year; and

• Children-beneficiaries aged 3-18 must enroll in school, and maintain an attendance of at least 85% of class days every month.

YES. The DSWD in coordination with the advisory councils composed of DepEd, DOH, DILG, NAPC and the LGU representatives at the national. Regional and municipal levels will verify compliance every month using monitoring tools developed for this purpose.

What are the criteria in the selection of beneficiaries?

There are three steps in identifying the beneficiaries:

• Provinces were selected using the following criteria: a) 20 poorest provinces based on the 2006 Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES); b) Poorest provinces in six regions without a province in the list of the 20 poorest provinces; c) Five cities in the NCR, two in the Visayas, two in Mindanao and one in the Cordillera.

• The selection of the poorest municipalities from the above provinces based on the Small Area Estimates (SAE) and FIES where saturation surveys of households are being conducted.

• Computerized selection of the poorest households based on a ranking system using Proxy Means Test developed for the program.

The PMT Assesses socio-economic characteristics such as:
ownership of assets, type of housing unit, level of educational attainment of
household heads, and access to water and sanitation facilities.

The DSWD selects the beneficiaries based no the targeting
system developed for the program.

For your inquiries, you can comment on the comment box below.

Source: Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD)