PRESIDENT Rodrigo R. Duterte has signed a law institutionalizing the government’s Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps).
Mr. Duterte signed Republic Act No. 11310, also known as the 4Ps Act, on April 17. Copies of the document were released to reporters on Wednesday.
The 4Ps is the government’s national poverty reduction strategy and human capital program. The program “provides conditional cash transfers to poor households for a maximum period of seven years, to improve the health, nutrition and education aspect of their lives.”
Eligible beneficiaries are farmers, fisherfolk, homeless families, indigenous peoples, informal settlers, and those in “geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas.”
Under the law, the 4Ps becomes an added function of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), which will be funded from its annual appropriation.
To be eligible for the cash grants, households or families must be classified as poor and near-poor based on the Standardized Targeting System and the poverty threshold issued by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) at the time of selection.
Families should also have members who are aged zero to 18 years old or have members who are pregnant at the time of registration.
Aspiring members should be willing to comply with the conditions set by the law, such as mandatory health checks for children and pregnant women.
The law states as well that conditional cash transfer grants per child enrolled in day care and elementary programs “shall not be lower than P300 per month for a maximum of 10 months per year.”
Children enrolled in junior high school will receive P500 per month for a maximum of 10 months per year while those enrolled in senior high school will receive P700 per month.
The law takes effect 15 days following its publication in the Official Gazette or in two newspapers of general circulation. — Arjay L. Balinbin
