The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) can now pay the cash grants of more than 700,000 reinstated household beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) following the release of an extra P5 billion program fund by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).
DSWD Asst. Secretary Irene Dumlao, who is also the agency spokesperson, also said that the department requested an additional budget from the DBM to fund last year’s 4Ps beneficiaries whose grants were temporarily put on hold following the household reassessment using the Social Welfare and Development Indicator (SWDI) Tool.
The additional funds mostly cover the education grants for the reinstated households, according to the DSWD spokesperson.
“We have requested to give the cash grants of our beneficiaries whose grants were held when we did the re-validation. If you remember, in 2022, the results of Listahanan 3 came out. And we saw that there are 4Ps beneficiaries based on Listahanan 3 [are] no longer considered as poor. But, because Listahanan 3 was conducted in 2019 and the pandemic passed in 2020 and 2021, it was seen that there are 4Ps beneficiaries who were also affected by the pandemic and this has affected their level of well-being When the result of the Listahanan 3 came out, the DSWD received numerous requests for reconsideration prompting the agency to conduct a revalidation using the SWDI tool,” the official said.
The SWDI assessment is now being used as the basis for the exit of the 4Ps household beneficiaries from the program under the National Advisory Council (NAC) Resolution No. 1 series of 2023 and was operationalized by the DSWD through the issuance of Memorandum Circular 19 series of 2023.
Based on the set of indicators in terms of economic sufficiency and social adequacy, households are categorized under three levels: level 1-survival, level 2-subsistence, and level 3-self sufficient. The result of the tool aids the program in identifying interventions needed by the family in order to achieve self-sufficiency.
“While we were doing that [revalidation], naka-hold po ang release ng kanilang cash grants. But, after determining na marami pa rin ang mga 4Ps beneficiaries na dapat mapasama o manatili sa programa dahil bumaba ang kanilang level of well-being, kinakailangan po ibigay natin ang kanilang cash grants that were previously put on hold,” the DSWD spokesperson pointed out.
Dumlao reiterated that the grants will be retroactive from January to December 2023.
Asked how much each beneficiary will receive with the retroactive grants, Asst. Secretary Dumlao said the amount depends on the number of children being monitored.
Under the program, the health and nutrition grant for each household beneficiary is Php750 per month, while the education grant for children in elementary is Php300 per month for 10 months; Php500 for those in junior high school; and Php 700 for those enrolled in senior high school. They also receive Php600 rice subsidy per month.
The DSWD thanked the DBM for the release of the requested additional 4Ps funds.
The 4Ps, which was launched in 2008 and institutionalized in 2019 through Republic Act No. 11310 or the 4Ps Act, provides cash grants to 4.4 million households (equivalent to 22 million individuals) whose children are given subsidies to finish elementary and senior high school and supported with health and nutrition grants.
The Listahanan is an information system for identifying who and where the poor households are nationwide, which can be used as the basis for targeting beneficiaries for social protection programs.
