The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) on Monday, Nov. 4 confirmed that around 400,000 households on the waitlist are eligible for the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) and will fill vacancies as families exit the program.
READ MORE: https://mb.com.ph/2024/10/31/500-k-households-to-graduate-from-4-ps
DSWD Director Gemma Gabuya, who also serves as the 4Ps National Program Manager, explained that in July 2023, DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian ordered a reassessment of 4Ps beneficiaries previously classified as “non-poor” under the “Listahanan 3.”
The reassessment led to the reinstatement of approximately 700,000 beneficiaries.
“Nagbalik na yung mga dati na non-poor at naging subsistence o survival kaya hindi agad nakapasok ‘yung waitlisted, because nakita nga ng management, particularly ni Secretary Rex, na hindi pa lahat ng graduates handa na talagang mag exit from the program (Those who were previously classified as non-poor have faced subsistence challenges, which is why the waitlisted families have not been able to enter the program right away. Management, particularly Secretary Rex, observed that not all graduates were ready to exit the program),” Gabuya said.
She said the exit process is in line with the provisions of Republic Act No. 11310 or 4Ps Law, which states that a household-beneficiary exits from the program when the last monitored child in the household turns 19 years old.
Currently, the DSWD is facilitating the graduation of households that no longer have eligible children, including those enrolled in elementary, high school, or senior high school.
Gabuya said the DSWD will conduct a validation process for at least one million households identified as potential 4Ps beneficiaries.
“These are the pool of poor households which were extracted from the Listahanan 3 or the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR),” she pointed out.
Gabuya explained that these households are still potential beneficiaries and will undergo further checks and validation to confirm their eligibility based on program criteria.
To qualify for the program, households must be willing to comply with the conditions and have family members aged 18 and below or a pregnant family member at the time of registration.
Once validated and confirmed eligible, these households will replace beneficiaries who have exited the program.
Each household-beneficiary receives P750 per month for health; P300 per child in elementary, P500 per child in junior high school, and P700 per child in senior high school, with a cap of three children per household for 10 months each school year; plus a monthly rice subsidy of P600 for compliant households.
Currently, over four million households nationwide are registered beneficiaries of the 4Ps.