THE latest survey ratings showing a drop in the number of self-rated poor families prove that the anti-poverty program of the government, such as the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), works, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) said yesterday.
“This is a good indicator that the government’s anti-poverty program is on the right track. This also shows the effectiveness of the 4Ps insofar as helping the poor attain the level of self-sufficiency while providing them with the necessary interventions to ensure that they will not slide back to poverty,” DSWD assistant secretary and spokeswoman Irene Dumlao said.
The April 23 to 28 survey of the Social Weather Stations (SWS) showed that the number of Fili-pinos who rated their families as poor dropped to 50 percent from the 55 percent recorded from April 11 to 15 and the 63 percent recorded in December 2024.
The 4Ps, the national government’s flagship program, aims to break the intergenerational cycle of poverty by providing education and health grants to 4Ps household beneficiaries who are re-quired to attend the monthly family development sessions (FDS).
As of April 30, a total of 860,471 household beneficiaries have already exited the 4Ps program after reaching an improved level of well-being or attaining self-sufficiency. Those who graduate from the program are continuously monitored by the DSWD in coordination with their respective local government units (LGUs) for post-services interventions, including grants from the agency’s Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP).
The 4PS still benefits more than 4 million poor families.
