Pantawid Pamilya Pilipino Program (4Ps), Mga benepisyo at Proseso sa 4Ps

The Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) is a human development measure of the national government that provides conditional cash grants to the poorest of the poor, to improve the health, nutrition, and the education of children aged 0-18. It is patterned after the conditional cash transfer (CCT) schemes in Latin American and African countries, which have lifted millions of people around the world from poverty.

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is the lead government agency of the 4Ps.

OBJECTIVES

The 4Ps has dual objectives as the flagship poverty alleviation program of the Aquino administration:

1. social assistance, giving monetary support to extremely poor families to respond to their immediate needs; and
2. social development, breaking the intergenerational poverty cycle by investing in the health and education of poor children through programs such as:
• health check-ups for pregnant women and children aged 0 to 5;
• deworming of schoolchildren aged 6 to 14;
• enrollment of children in daycare, elementary, and secondary schools; and
• family development sessions.

The 4Ps also helps the Philippine government fulfill its commitment to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)—specifically in eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, in achieving universal primary education, in promoting gender equality, in reducing child mortality, and in improving maternal health care.

COVERAGE

The 4Ps operates in all the 17 regions in the Philippines, covering 79 provinces, 143 cities, and 1,484 municipalities. Beneficiaries are selected through the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR), which identifies who and where the poor are in the country.

In general, the following criteria must be satisfied to become eligible for the program:

• Residents of the poorest municipalities, based on 2003 Small Area Estimates (SAE) of the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB)
• Households whose economic condition is equal to or below the provincial poverty threshold
• Households that have children 0-18 years old and/or have a pregnant woman at the time of assessment
• Households that agree to meet conditions specified in the program

COMPLEMENTING THE 4PS IS THE MODIFIED CONDITIONAL CASH TRANSFER (MCCT) PROGRAM, WHICH CATERS TO FAMILIES IN NEED OF SPECIAL PROTECTION. THESE INCLUDE STREET FAMILIES, ITINERANT INDIGENOUS FAMILIES, FAMILIES DISPLACED BY NATURAL AND MAN-MADE DISASTERS, FAMILIES WITH A PERSON WITH DISABILITY (PWD), CHILD LABORERS, CHILDREN IN CONFLICT WITH THE LAW, AND FAMILIES WITH MEMBERS WITH TERMINAL DISEASE AND VICTIMS OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING.

As of August 26, 2015, there are 4,353,597 active household-beneficiaries, of which 570,056 are indigenous households and 217,359 have at least one PWD. The program also covers 10,235,658 schoolchildren aged 0 to 18, from the total registered with an average of two to three children per household.

CASH GRANTS

The 4Ps has two types of cash grants that are given out to household-beneficiaries:

• health grant: P500 per household every month, or a total of P6,000 every year
• education grant: P300 per child every month for ten months, or a total of P3,000 every year (a household may register a maximum of three children for the program)

For a household with three children, a household may receive P1,400 every month, or a total of P15,000 every year for five years, from the two types of cash grants given to them.

These cash grants are distributed to the household-beneficiaries through the Land Bank of the Philippines or, if not feasible, through alternate payment schemes such as Globe G-Cash remittance and rural bank transactions.

As of August 2015, a total of P27.15 billion cash grants were paid to eligible and compliant beneficiaries for the first to third period of 2015 covering January to August disbursements. From this amount, P13.23 billion was paid for education, and the remaining P13.92 billion was disbursed for health.

CONDITIONS AND COMPLIANCE

In order to receive the abovementioned subsidies, all the succeeding conditions must be met by the household-beneficiaries:

1. Pregnant women must avail pre- and post-natal care, and be attended during childbirth by a trained professional;
2. Parents or guardians must attend the family development sessions, which include topics on responsible parenting, health, and nutrition;
3. Children aged 0-5 must receive regular preventive health check-ups and vaccines;
4. Children aged 6-14 must receive deworming pills twice a year; and
5. Children-beneficiaries aged 3-18 must enroll in school, and maintain an attendance of at least 85% of class days every month.
High compliance rates were recorded for the months of March and April 2015: 99.91% for the deworming of children aged 6-14; 98.99% for school attendance of children aged 6-14; 98.33% for school attendance of children in daycare aged 3-5; 97.05% for school attendance of children aged 15-18; 95.95% for health visits of pregnant women and children aged 0-5; and 94.84% for attendance in family development sessions.

PARTNERSHIPS WITH GOVERNMENT AGENCIES

In partnership with the Commission on Higher Education, the Department of Labor and Employment, and the Philippine Association of State Universities and Colleges, 4Ps has enrolled 36,003 beneficiaries in state universities and colleges as of June 2015.

Additionally, in partnership with PhilHealth, 4Ps has covered 4.4 million beneficiaries under the National Health Insurance Program.