DSWD calls for adjustment in 4Ps grants

MANILA- Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Assistant Secretary for Disaster Response Management Group (DRMG) Irene Dumlao on Thursday said the agency was batting for the automatic adjustment of cash grants for the beneficiaries of Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps).

She said the department has kept working with the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) and the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) to find an appropriate index to use for the automatic adjustment.

Early this year, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. directed the DSWD, NEDA and PSA to study the current cash assistance given to indigents and recipients of the 4Ps to make these more responsive to economic shocks.

"Part of the directive of the President is for the DSWD, NEDA, and PSA to come up with a proposal to ensure that the cash grants are responsive to present socio-economic conditions and automatically adjusted even without legislation," Dumalo said in a news release.

Dumlao, who is also the DSWD spokesperson, explained that working with NEDA and PSA is important for the DSWD to come up with the right amount to make sure the 4Ps grants will be able to cushion the spikes caused by inflation.

She also reiterated what DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian said that "adjusting the cash grants of 4Ps beneficiaries is not just timely but that it also preserves the value of the grants."

The inflation rate has inched to 3.8 percent in April from 3.7 percent in March.

The 4Ps is a national poverty reduction strategy and human capital investment program of the Philippine government that currently caters to 4.4 million household beneficiaries nationwide.

Under the program, beneficiaries receive their cash grants if they comply with the conditions of sending their children to school, bringing them to health centers for check-ups, and attending the monthly Family Development Sessions (FDS).

Based on the provisions of Republic Act 11310 or the 4Ps Act, cash grants given to qualified families for a maximum of 10 months a year include P300 a month for each child enrolled in daycare or elementary school; P500 a month for each child enrolled in junior high school and P700 a month for each child enrolled in senior high school.

Each beneficiary household also gets P750 a month in health and nutrition grants and P650 monthly rice assistance. (PNA)