The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) on Wednesday, Nov. 15 said the payout of cash grants to 761,140 Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) beneficiaries will resume on Nov. 30.
DSWD spokesperson and Assistant Secretary for Strategic Communications Romel Lopez said aside from cash grants, eligible beneficiaries will also receive rice subsidies.
“The department will resume the payout for the withheld health grants from January to September 2023 starting on Nov. 30 and it will be non-compliance based while the education grants for the same period shall be based on the compliance of the beneficiaries and will be processed starting February 2024,” Lopez explained.
The DSWD has withheld cash grants for 4Ps members following the revalidation undertaken by the 4Ps National Project Management Office (NPMO) to determine who among the household beneficiaries is no longer poor or non-poor.
Based on the directive of DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian, the 4Ps NPMO was able to complete the reassessment of the 1,158,249 households previously identified as non-poor using the Social Welfare and Development Indicators (SWDI) tool.
The assessment showed that 4,242 households are in Level 1 or Survival Level; 756,898 households in Level 2 or Subsistence Level; and 339,660 households are in Level 3 or Self-Sufficient Level.
“The reassessed households belonging to Levels 1 and 2 have been retained in the list of beneficiaries while those in the Level 3 will undergo the exit process,” Lopez said.
A memorandum signed by the DSWD chief titled "Guidance on the Processing of Unpaid Grants to Qualified 759,041 4Ps Household-Beneficiaries for the Period January 2023-September 2023" covers the retroactive payout of the reassessed qualified households.
The 4Ps is a human development program of the national government that provides conditional cash grants to the poorest of the poor to enhance children's education, health, and nutrition who are 18 years of age or younger.