The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) will complete its reassessment of the beneficiaries under the Listahan 3 of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) by September with hopes of starting the disbursement of the cash aid thereafter, Secretary Rex Gatchalian said on Tuesday, Aug. 15.

DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian speaks during a media briefing in Malacañang on Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2023. (RTVM screeshot)

During a Palace press briefing, the DSWD chief lamented that there was a “delay” in the disbursement of the cash aid because there is currently a reassessment of beneficiaries considered “poor” by the agency’s indicator tool.

“At kaya medyo mayroon lang tayong delay sa disbursing this year dahil kung matatandaan natin, ang basis ng 4Ps ay iyong Listahanan (That’s why we have a delay in disbursing this year because if we can remember, the basis of the 4Ps is the Listahan) and the last Listahanan – Listahanan III – was conducted ng period of 2019/2020, these were the Covid years ng (of the) lockdown,” the official explained.

Since that period includes the Covid-19 lockdown, it became difficult for the agency to reassess the beneficiaries.

Around 700,000 beneficiaries who initially graduated from being “poor” by DSWD standards before the pandemic also came back to the agency after the lockdown to say they became “poor” again.

“Pero pagtapos ng Covid bumalik sila sa departamento at sinabi nila na, ‘Bumalik kami sa kahirapan dahil nawalan kami ng trabaho, nagkaroon ng effect sa pamilya namin ang Covid…’ so nag-request sila ng reassessment – that 700,000 families. (But after Covid, they came back to the department and they said, ‘We returned to being poor because we lost our jobs, Covid had an effect on our families.’ They requested for a reassessment, those 700,000 families),” Gatchalian added.

But the Social Welfare secretary assured that the reassessment will be completed by the end of Sept.

“And then what we can do next is now start paying them. At mabilis naman sa department dahil nga naka-cash card naman ‘yang mga ‘yan (And it’ll be fast because those are using cash cards)– once the fund is obligated, disburse kaagad iyon (that will be disbursed immediately),” he said.

The budget for the 4Ps, which is “around P96 billion,” is half of the DSWD’s budget.

“Kaagad (Immediately) by the end of the year after this assessment is done, we believe that we can fully utilize the budget na nakalaan para sa 4Ps (allocated for the 4Ps),” Gatchalian added.