Senator Imee Marcos (Senate PRIB)

The House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts on Monday, May 20, started its inquiry into the eported budget cut that adversely affected the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

The panel, chaired by Abang Lingkod Party-list Rep. Joseph Stephen "Caraps" Paduano, sought the hearing after some lawmakers flagged the alleged withholding by Senator Imee Marcos of the P13-billion budget supposedly for 4Ps.

During his opening remarks, Paduano said this budget reduction led to disenfranchisement among 4Ps beneficiaries.

“Please remember that these initiatives are more than just financial assistance; they are lifelines for our most vulnerable citizens, and a foundation for sustainable economic growth and an investment in our future,” he said.

During interpellation, DSWD Undersecretary Adonis Sulit told solons that he cannot “pinpoint with particularity” whether or not Senator Marcos was indeed behind the decrease in the funding of 4Ps in the 2023 national budget.

Sulit, however, assured that the House of Representatives wasn't at fault for this budget cut.

“No’ng deniliberate namin yung budget na ‘yan (4Ps), hindi naman binawasan sa GAB (General Appropriations Bill)… So, we can presume that it’s done in the Senate? Kasi yung amin walang bawas eh,” said Antipolo City 2nd district Rep. Romeo Acop.

(When we deliberated that budget, it was not reduced in the GAB... So, we can presume that it was done in the Senate? Because ours has no deduction.)

“One thing is very clear hindi po nanggaling dito sa amin, sa House, yung pagtapyas ng pondo ng 4Ps (the 4Ps fund slash did not come from us, in the House),” Acop stressed.

4Ps Party-list Rep. JC Abalos——whose privilege speech was the basis for this hearing——even cited a press release from the office of Senator Marcos to further affirm that the lower chamber played no part in the P13-billion budget slash.

In a statement published on the Senate’s website dated Feb. 21, 2024, the lady senator said that she recommended to realign the unused 4Ps funds to other “quickly implementable” DSWD projects.

“The PhP8 billion from the 4Ps was saved and benefited countless marginalized sectors… the PhP5-billion AICS (Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation) reduction, on the other hand, occurred after I had recommended the amount in the Senate version, but the bicameral removed it for lack of fiscal space post-Covid,” she explained.

Marcos said she did so out of conviction that the department’s budget must be retained “as the poor would suffer all reductions and losses”.

Acop told the DSWD to prepare a copy of the budget--to be submitted to the panel’s next hearing--from when it was being deliberated in the committee level of both chambers of Congress up to the Bicameral Conference Committee.

“At least, for the record, malinaw kung saan talaga nagbawas. And kung wala man, saan ang nangyaring pagbabawas? (it will be clear where the reduction actually took place. And if not, where did the reduction happen?)” the veteran lawmaker asked.

Based on its latest figures, the 4Ps has P3.9 billion in deficiencies for education grants that are pending before 667,608 beneficiaries.

In the meantime, DSWD’s Sulit says the agency is hoping that Congress will fill up this funding gap in next year’s national budget.