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MANILA – The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) said Thursday that households reinstated into the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) have received their education grants through the Land Bank of the Philippines following a reassessment using the Social Welfare and Development Indicators (SWDI).
“We acknowledge that these grants are vital for the reinstated families and we are committed to ensuring that these funds reach them promptly,” 4Ps National Program Manager and Director Gemma Gabuya said in a news release.
Gabuya said the retroactive payments covering the pay periods in the 10-month education grants for 2023 were credited to the accounts of more than 650,000 4Ps household beneficiaries.
She said the delayed health grants and rice subsidies of the reinstated households in the pay periods were distributed from December 2023 to June 2024.
Another batch of more than 120,000 reinstated 4Ps households are expected to receive their retroactive payment of education grants, health grants, and rice subsidies on Aug. 17.
Under the 4Ps program, the health and nutrition grant for each household beneficiary is PHP750 per month, and PHP600 for rice subsidy 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 PHP700 for those enrolled in senior high school.
The reinstatement of the more than 700,000 households into the program was the result of the SWDI assessment following numerous requests for reconsideration from 4Ps beneficiaries after the Listahanan 3 came out in 2022.
“After the assessment using the SWDI tool, we found out that these households, who were initially tagged as non-poor by the Listahanan 3, still need support from the program to help them achieve self-sufficiency. It is noted that their level of well-being, as assessed by the Listahanan 3 in 2019, was halted due to the pandemic, which struck in 2020. Hence, we reinstated them to become eligible for the grants that will help them improve their status,” Gabuya said.
The SWDI assessment is used as the basis for the exit of 4Ps household beneficiaries from the program under the National Advisory Council's Resolution 1 series of 2023 and was operationalized by the DSWD under Memorandum Circular 19 series of 2023.
Based on a set of indicators of economic sufficiency and social adequacy, households are categorized under three levels: level 1 – survival, level 2 – subsistence, and level 3 – self-sufficiency. The result helps identify the interventions needed by the family to achieve self-sufficiency.
The 4Ps program, launched in 2008 and institutionalized in 2019 through Republic Act 11310 or the 4Ps Act, provides cash grants to 4.4 million households whose children are given subsidies to finish elementary and senior high school and supported with health and nutrition grants. (PNA)
