Success of 4Ps law lies in well-crafted IRR -- Recto
Published May 26, 2019 02:26 pm
By Hannah Torregoza
Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto on Sunday urged the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to craft responsive and relevant implementing rules and regulations (IRR) for the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) to ensure its success.
Senator Ralph Recto (JOHN JEROME GANZON / MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO)
“Marami tayong batas na magaganda ang pagkagawa pero nadidiskaril pag lumabas na ang IRR dahil lihis sa intensyon ang ginagawang implementasyon, (We have many laws that were crafted well but are derailed especially when the IRR does not reflect the intention of the law,)” Recto said.
Recto said the new law, Republic Act No. 11310, an act institutionalizing the 4Ps, which was signed by President Duterte last April 17, gathers the best practices and lessons learned from the past 10 years of the implementation of the 4Ps, which is also known as the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) program.
“From 2007, when it was launched with a P50-million budget, the 4Ps annual spending has surged 176,213 percent, with this year’s proposed allocation at P88 billion,” the senator noted.
“With this amount, we should make sure that the real poor are helped and the targets of the program met,” Recto said.
He stressed the need to ensure that the IRR for the 4Ps law will reflect the real intention of the law, which is to “help the real poor, to ensure the sustainability of the program, and avoid wasteful spending.”
Integrated in the new law are the substantive amendments introduced by Recto in the Senate, such as the automatic inclusion of families of farmers, fisher folks, and those who live in areas without electricity; lifting of limit on the number of children to qualify for the cash grants; continuous impact assessment of the 4Ps program to be conducted by PIDS, including verification of the list of beneficiaries; and its recommendation every six years on whether to adjust the amount of cash grants based on inflation.
Under the law, the DSWD and other government agencies are mandated to prioritize 4Ps families in their livelihood programs.
The new 4Ps law also has safeguards against “local epal politics” by limiting the Advisory Councils at the regional and national level, and streamlining membership to Advisory Councils to include only the government agencies with different programs related to training, employment facilitation, microenterprise development, and technology for those seeking jobs.
Recto said he pushed the amendment prioritizing farmers and fishermen in the enrolment of beneficiaries in the 4Ps program because they mostly comprise the 23.7-million poor in this sector.
“The poverty incidence among farmers is 34.3 percent, while it is 34 percent for fishermen. These are higher than the latest poverty incidence figure of 21.6 percent,” he said.
“Kung tatamaan pa sila ng rice tariffication at climate change, tama lang na unahin sila sa social protection (and if they would be hit by the rice tariffication law and climate change, then its only right to prioritize them in social protection),” he added.
Another Recto amendment is linking 4Ps to livelihood and skills-training programs.
“Hindi dapat parang dole-out na naghihintay na lang ng allowance. Turuan dapat sila ng employment skills (The cash should not be given as a dole-out like they are just being given an allowance. They should also be taught employment skills),” he said.
“This is not merely giving them fish, but teaching them how to fish,” he pointed out.
Senator Ralph Recto (JOHN JEROME GANZON / MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO)
“Marami tayong batas na magaganda ang pagkagawa pero nadidiskaril pag lumabas na ang IRR dahil lihis sa intensyon ang ginagawang implementasyon, (We have many laws that were crafted well but are derailed especially when the IRR does not reflect the intention of the law,)” Recto said.
Recto said the new law, Republic Act No. 11310, an act institutionalizing the 4Ps, which was signed by President Duterte last April 17, gathers the best practices and lessons learned from the past 10 years of the implementation of the 4Ps, which is also known as the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) program.
“From 2007, when it was launched with a P50-million budget, the 4Ps annual spending has surged 176,213 percent, with this year’s proposed allocation at P88 billion,” the senator noted.
“With this amount, we should make sure that the real poor are helped and the targets of the program met,” Recto said.
He stressed the need to ensure that the IRR for the 4Ps law will reflect the real intention of the law, which is to “help the real poor, to ensure the sustainability of the program, and avoid wasteful spending.”
Integrated in the new law are the substantive amendments introduced by Recto in the Senate, such as the automatic inclusion of families of farmers, fisher folks, and those who live in areas without electricity; lifting of limit on the number of children to qualify for the cash grants; continuous impact assessment of the 4Ps program to be conducted by PIDS, including verification of the list of beneficiaries; and its recommendation every six years on whether to adjust the amount of cash grants based on inflation.
Under the law, the DSWD and other government agencies are mandated to prioritize 4Ps families in their livelihood programs.
The new 4Ps law also has safeguards against “local epal politics” by limiting the Advisory Councils at the regional and national level, and streamlining membership to Advisory Councils to include only the government agencies with different programs related to training, employment facilitation, microenterprise development, and technology for those seeking jobs.
Recto said he pushed the amendment prioritizing farmers and fishermen in the enrolment of beneficiaries in the 4Ps program because they mostly comprise the 23.7-million poor in this sector.
“The poverty incidence among farmers is 34.3 percent, while it is 34 percent for fishermen. These are higher than the latest poverty incidence figure of 21.6 percent,” he said.
“Kung tatamaan pa sila ng rice tariffication at climate change, tama lang na unahin sila sa social protection (and if they would be hit by the rice tariffication law and climate change, then its only right to prioritize them in social protection),” he added.
Another Recto amendment is linking 4Ps to livelihood and skills-training programs.
“Hindi dapat parang dole-out na naghihintay na lang ng allowance. Turuan dapat sila ng employment skills (The cash should not be given as a dole-out like they are just being given an allowance. They should also be taught employment skills),” he said.
“This is not merely giving them fish, but teaching them how to fish,” he pointed out.