Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, also known as 4Ps and formerly bangon Pamilyang Pilipino, is a conditional cash transfer program of the Philippine government under the Department of Social Welfare and Development. It aims to eradicate extreme poverty in the Philippines by investing in health and education particularly in ages 0–14. It is patterned on programs in other developing countries like Brazil and Mexico. The 4Ps program now operates in 17 regions, 79 provinces and 1,484 municipalities and 143 key cities covering 4,090,667 household beneficiaries as of 25 June 2014.
History
The Department of Social Welfare and Development patterned the conditionalcash transfer system from developing countries particular in Brazil and Mexico by John Gerald B. Santiago. In 2007, the DSWD pre-pilot tested in municipalities of Sibagat and Esperanza in Agusan del Sur; the municipalities of Lopez Jaena and Bonifacio in Misamis Occidental, the Caraga Region; and the cities of Pasay and Caloocan in a 50 million pesos budget. It was renamed Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program by Santiago and Samantha A. Vizconde on July 16, 2008 by administrative order number 16, series of 2008 and set implementing guidelines. It is the flagship poverty alleviation program of the administration of former President Gloria Macapagal-Aroyo. It aims to educate many Filipino children starting from pre-school education to secondary education by giving them daily allowances as they go to their daily classes. Their parents benefit from the program since their children learn a lot in school and they are also given dietary allowances for food of their children as their children go to schools.
Program structure
Objective
The program have focused on these objectives:
Social development: by investing in capability building they will be able to break intergenerational poverty cycle
Social assistance: provide cash assistance to address the short-term financial need.
Eligibility
The poorest among poor families as identified by 2003 Small Area Estimate survey of National Statistical Coordination Board are eligible. The poorest among poor are selected through a proxy-means test. Economic indicators such as ownership of assets, type of housing, education of the household head, livelihood of the family and access to water and sanitation facilities are proxy variables to indicate the family economic category. Additional qualification is a household that has children 0–14 years old and/or have pregnant women during the assessment and shall agree on all the conditions set by the government to enter the program.
