Here's a sad fact: government workers who serve as grassroots implementers of the P103-billion Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) are at risk of becoming poor themselves due to the contractual nature of their jobs. Realizing this, House Minority Leader and 4Ps Party-list Rep. Marcelino Libanan bared on Sunday, March 12 that he has filed a measure that would create permanent posts for the Department of Social Welfare and Development's (DSWD) 4Ps staff. “We find it unacceptable that the very people at the frontlines of the government’s fight against poverty are precariously exposed to the hazard of becoming deprived on account of their contractual employment,” Libanan said in a statement. The 4Ps is basically staffed by temporary contract of service or job order workers down to the municipal level, according to the veteran lawmaker. “They do not have security of tenure, and they have zero social security protection and no benefits whatsoever. And once their work contracts end, they risk joblessness and poverty, along with their families,” he noted. Under House Bill (HB) No. 7410, the employment of 4Ps staff will be regularized through the creation of new program offices and plantilla positions under the DSWD. The bill provides that the DSWD would be required to establish permanent offices and positions for 4Ps management and operations at the regional, provincial, city and municipal levels. The new 4Ps offices would be staffed by regular heads, social welfare officers, administrative assistants, and monitoring and evaluation personnel, among others. The 4Ps is the government’s poverty reduction and social development strategy that provides conditional cash aid to poor households. At present, the DSWD is one of the smallest executive departments in terms of regular plantilla items. In the 2023 General Appropriations Act’s (GAA) staffing summary, the DSWD has only 3,335 authorized permanent staffing positions.