The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has validated over 434,000 households for the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), while an additional 1.18 million households are still under review for eligibility.
DSWD Assistant Secretary and spokesperson Irene Dumlao said on Sunday, Dec. 22 that the newly validated families are set to replace those who have already graduated from the program.
“These 434,317 households are next in line to replace the beneficiaries who have graduated from the program through the ‘Pugay Tagumpay’ ceremony,” she said.
While the 434,317 households have been validated, 1.18 million households are still undergoing the validation process to determine their eligibility for the program, she added.
To be eligible for the program, households must meet certain criteria, including being classified as poor or near-poor according to the “Listahanan” database and having a family member who is either a child aged zero to 18 years or a pregnant member at the time of registration.
Once validated, these households will replace those that no longer meet the program’s requirements, such as beneficiaries whose children have graduated or no longer qualify for education grants.
The ongoing validation follows the reassessment of beneficiaries who were previously tagged as “non-poor” under Listahanan 3.
In July 2023, DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian ordered a review of these beneficiaries, resulting in the reinstatement of more than 700,000 families into the program.
Once validated, these new households will help fill the gap left by beneficiaries who have graduated and ensure that the 4Ps program continues to reach those who need it most, Dumlao said.
The 4Ps program, established in 2008 and institutionalized by Republic Act No. 11310 in 2019, aims to reduce poverty by providing conditional cash transfers to poor households.
It provides cash grants to households in the following categories: P750 per month for health; P300 per child in elementary school; P500 per child in junior high school; P700 per child in senior high school (with a maximum of three children per household for 10 months per school year); and a monthly rice subsidy of P600 for active and compliant households.
Currently, over 4 million households are registered beneficiaries of the 4Ps nationwide.