Gov’t told to include more Pinoys in cash transfer program
A CONGRESSMAN on Thursday urged the Social Welfare department to include more Filipinos in its conditional cash transfer program.
“Why are we lowering the [beneficiaries] while more and more Filipinos are becoming poor?” Assistant Minority Leader and Party-list Rep. Arlene D. Brosas told a House of Representatives hearing on the P5.768-trillion national budget for next year.
This was after Social Welfare Secretary Rexlon T. Gatchalian said the agency had briefly halted its delisting of beneficiaries under the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program or 4Ps to reassess the number of poor Filipino families.
“Whenever we delist [beneficiaries,] we have them replaced as we have an existing database of waitlisted families who are needing to go into the program,” he told the hearing.
He said they would need a bigger budget to accommodate more beneficiaries. “We will always push for adding more 4Ps members if the budget allows it.”
Only 13.46% of the P94.34-billion 4Ps budget for 2023 has been given to beneficiaries pending review, Mr. Gatchalian said.
The government expects to complete the review of beneficiaries of its conditional cash transfer program by September, he told a news briefing this week.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is looking at 1.4 million families, including 700,000 people who had been tagged as nonpoor before the pandemic, Mr. Gatchalian said.
He said the 700,000 people previously tagged as nonpoor had been heavily affected by the pandemic, pulling them back into poverty.
Another 700,000 people had not been assessed because of pandemic-induced lockdowns, he said. He added that the cash transfer program accounts for half of the agency’s budget for 2023.
At Thursday’s hearing, Mr. Gatchalian said the program targets 4.4 million beneficiaries by October or November.
DSWD expects a 94% utilization rate for the program by yearend, or P96.55 billion including operating costs.
Out of the agency’s proposed P209.9-billion budget for next year, P112.8 billion is earmarked for 4Ps.
The program provides cash grants to the poorest households on the condition that they commit to help raise key development metrics, like submitting to nutrition and health checks, and keep children in school. — Beatriz Marie D. Cruz
