THE Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) yesterday assured families exiting the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) this year of continued support to ensure their self-sufficiency.
The agency has previously said that 339,660 4Ps families have already been assessed as Level 3 or self-sufficient and will be recommended for graduation or exit from the program.
Social Welfare assistant secretary and spokesman Romel Lopez, in an interview with radio DzRH, said the graduating 4Ps will be endorsed to the department’s Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP) for possible livelihood assistance, apart from receiving cash aid once they exit the program.
He said the graduating 4Ps family will also be endorsed to their respective local government units (LGUs), along with their case folders, to guide Local Social Welfare and Development Offices (LSWDOs) in identifying the programs and services that the families may need.
More than 1.1 million 4Ps beneficiaries were earlier assessed as non-poor under the Listahanan 3 of the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR) that was done before the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
Following an appeal, especially from those who were heavily affected by the pandemic lockdowns, they were reassessed. The reassessment led to the retention of 760,000 families.
The 4Ps is the government’s national poverty reduction strategy and a human capital investment program that provides monthly conditional cash transfers to qualified households.
It is a human development program which provides social protection, social assistance, social development, and other complementary support services in partnership with concerned agencies, LGUs and other stakeholders toward improving the health and nutrition, education, and socio-economic aspects of the beneficiaries.
