An estimated 200,000 household-beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) are anticipated to graduate from the program by September, a Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) official said on Thursday, Feb. 1.

“By September, mayroong mga around 200,000 na wala ng eligible children na automatic na mag-eexit sa program (By September, approximately 200,000 families whose children are no longer eligible for the 4Ps will automatically exit the program),” 4Ps National Program Management Office (NPMO) Director Gemma Gabuya said in a media forum.

Gabuya said the households' exit is in accordance with Republic Act No. 11310, also known as the 4Ps Law, which states that “a qualified household-beneficiary shall be deemed to exit from the program, when the last monitored child in the household turns 19 years old.”

She further explained that the exit date in September coincides with the end of the school year to ensure that the monitored children complete their current grade level.

“To ensure that the exiting households will not slide back to poverty, the DSWD is working with other government agencies and local government units to provide livelihood opportunities and other interventions that will help meet the needs of the families,” Gabuya said.

With the exit of 200,000 household-beneficiaries, the DSWD will now be able to accommodate the same number of families in the 4Ps.

“The new program beneficiaries will be extracted from the current list of waitlisted beneficiaries assessed by the Listahanan 3 or the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR),” Gabuya said.

The 4Ps is the Philippine government's national poverty-reduction strategy and human capital investment program that provides conditional cash transfers to improve the health, nutrition, and education of children aged 18 and under.

There are currently 4.4 million household-beneficiaries nationwide.