4.1-M indigents benefit from 4Ps in 2018

By Perfecto Raymundo, Jr. – PNA, Dec 27, 2018

MANILA — In line with its mandate to protect the poor, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has served more than 4 million beneficiaries under its Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) this year.

DSWD Undersecretary Florita R. Villar on Friday reported the 4Ps continues to invest in the health and education of poor and vulnerable households “to break the intergenerational cycle of poverty in the country”.

“As of October, 4Ps is being implemented in 143 cities and 1,489 municipalities in 81 provinces nationwide,” Villar said.

She noted that a total of 4,178,985 are active household beneficiaries.

Of the beneficiaries, Villar said, 3,950,012 are covered by the regular Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) program while 228,973 are covered by the Modified Conditional Cash Transfer (MCCT).

The MCCT includes beneficiaries who are not covered by the regular CCT, such as homeless street families, the victims of natural and man-made disasters who are rendered homeless and with no means of livelihood, and indigenous peoples in geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas.

“The DSWD also continues to provide indigent Filipinos with access to sustainable livelihood opportunities through its Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP),” Villar said.

The SLP is the DSWD’s capacity-building program that provides access to opportunities that increase the productivity of the livelihood assets of the poor, vulnerable and marginalized communities, helping them improve their socio-economic well-being.

Under the SLP, beneficiaries are given the option to take either the micro-enterprise development track, which supports microenterprises to become organizationally and economically viable, or the employment facilitation track, which assists Filipinos to access appropriate employment opportunities.

“As of October, the program was able to serve a total of 82,455 households nationwide. Of this number, 73,546 households or 89.2 percent were served under the micro-enterprise development track while 8,909 households or 10.8 percent were served under the employment facilitation track,” Villar said.

Out of the 82,455 households served by the SLP, 70,073 are beneficiaries of the 4Ps.

Some 63,600 4Ps households were assisted under the micro-enterprise development track, while 6,473 were facilitated for employment.

DSWD has also prepared and uploaded to the Land Bank of the Philippines the payroll documents for the PHP2,400 unconditional cash transfer (UCT) grants of some 8,603,905 beneficiaries.

UCT is the tax subsidy provided under the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law, which is the largest tax reform mitigation program under the administration of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte. It aims to help the poor cushion the adverse economic impact of the law for three years starting 2018.

“In 2019, the ‘one-time big time’ UCT grants will be PHP3,600 and the payment period will be from June to July 2019,” Villar said.

She noted that the remaining 2.6 million beneficiaries are expected to have their scheduled payouts via over-the-counter or conduits this December.

As of November, this year, some 412 municipalities have also implemented the DSWD’s Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (Kalahi-CIDSS) National Community-Driven Development Program, while a total of 4,558 sub-projects have been completed and benefited 1,536,100 households

The program helps by enhancing communities and local government units’ capacity and by providing seed funding for community implementation of priority social infrastructure sub-projects that help reduce poverty and improve sustainability.

The DSWD also continues to support the recovery of individuals and families from unexpected crisis through the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation (AICS).

The AICS, which is delivered through the various Crisis Intervention Units (CIUS) at the DSWD Central Office, Field Offices, and satellite offices, in the provinces, provides educational, medical, transportation, burial, and food and non-food assistance.

“From January to October, the Department has released PHP2,794,260,205 to 671,192 clients of DSWD CIUS nationwide. Medical assistance remains to be the top aid with disbursement amounting to PHP1,926,892,425, followed by burial and educational assistance with PHP386,361,798 and PHP324,626,840, respectively,” Villar said.

The DSWD also contributed to the Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) program of the government and Republic Act 11037, or “Institutionalizing a National Feeding Program for Undernourished Children in Public Day Care, Kindergarten and Elementary Schools”. The DSWD continues to implement its Supplementary Feeding Program (SFP), which is the provision of snacks and hot meals in addition to the regular meals to children currently enrolled in child development centers and supervised neighborhood play.

“As of today, a total of 1,543,903 children in 52,949 day-care centers from all regions have benefited from SFP with a total budget of PHP3,153,931,755,” Villar said.

In adherence to Republic Act 9994, or the “Expanded Senior Citizens Act”, which seeks to help augment the daily subsistence and medical needs of indigent senior citizens, the DSWD continues to implement the Social Pension Program for Indigent Senior Citizens.

The program provides PHP500 monthly stipend to poor senior citizens who are frail, sickly and with disability, without regular income or support from family, and with no existing pension from the Social Security System, Government Service Insurance System, and other organizations.

“As of October, a total of 3,114,064 indigent seniors have benefited from the program with the total pension amounting to PHP13,976,334,000,” Villar said.

On the other hand, the DSWD has recognized and awarded a total of 977 centenarians in all regions of the country for 2018, for a total of PHP97,700,000.

Under RA 10868, or the “Centenarians Act of 2016”, all Filipinos who have reached 100 years old and above, whether residing in the Philippines or abroad, will be given a Centenarian gift amounting to PHP100,000 and a Letter of Felicitation signed by the President.

“The highest number of centenarians came from Region NCR (National Capital Region) with 381,” Villar said.

The DSWD also provided assistance to trafficked persons under the Recovery and Reintegration Program for Trafficked Persons (RRPTP).

The RRPTP is a comprehensive program that ensures adequate recovery and reintegration services provided to trafficked persons.

It uses a multi-sectoral approach and delivers a complete package of services to enhance the psychosocial, social, and economic needs of the clients.

The beneficiaries of the program include the victims-survivors of trafficking who are returning or have returned to the Philippines, families, and relatives of the victims-survivors, and communities with a high incidence of trafficking.

“As of September, the DSWD has served a total of 1,984 trafficked persons in all regions under the RRPTP,” Villar said.

The NCR Field Office served the highest number of new Trafficking in Persons (TIP) cases with a total number of 580 followed by Field Office IX and Field Office III with 338 and 235 cases, respectively.