CAMARINES Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte yesterday urged the Senate to adopt a House-approved bill seeking to amend (RA) 11310, or the “Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) Act,” by upgrading the anti-poverty initiative to provide education access to adult program beneficiaries.
The lawmaker, the president of the National Unity Party (NUP), said he is the World Bank (WB) report showing the Philippines has one of the worst learning poverty levels in the East Asia and Pacific region would compel senators during the congressional break to study and support the bill.
“I am hoping that a disturbing World Bank report showing that the foundational education deficit in the Philippines is so bad that our learning poverty level is at a steep 91 percent would impel our senators to act after the congressional break on a House-approved measure providing adult beneficiaries of the 4Ps program with new access to learning,” Villafuerte said.
Villafuerte is referring to House Bill (HB) 8497 which was unanimously approved by a 236-0 vote last August.
The bill seeks to upgrade the government’s anti-poverty initiative by providing education access to adult program beneficiaries via three learning modes.
It promotes further education among adult male 4Ps beneficiaries through the alternative learning system (ALS), entrepreneurship training, or employment training modes.
HB 8497 seeks to introduce a community mobilization grant (CMG) or conditional cash transfer (CCT) of at least P500 per instance per beneficiary for the adult education component of 4Ps, which is a major poverty reduction program of the government.
The 19th Congress took a break last September 30 and will reopen on November 6.
Villafuerte said the bill is timely in light of the recent WB report on teachers and basic education in East Asia and the Pacific which has projected the Philippines’ learning poverty level at an alarming 91 percent–or three times of the government’s own estimate of 37 percent.
The WB report said the failure of countries like the Philippines to equip students with foundational learning skills adversely affects their ability to acquire more advanced skills that will help boost economic activities in their respective countries and enable them to escape poverty.
The 4Ps program, which has helped accelerate poverty reduction before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, now provides a CCT grant equivalent to at least P300 per month per child for a maximum of 10 months each year for children who are enrolled by their parents in daycare or elementary programs; at least P500 per month per child for up to 10 months per year for children enrolled in junior high school; and at least P700 per month per child for up to 10 months per year for those enrolled in senior high school.
Under HB 8497, 4Ps adult male beneficiaries will be entitled to an extra CMG grant of P500 per instance per beneficiary once they “join and complete” any of the three tracks of adult education.
First is the non-formal education through the ALS track of the Department of Education (DepEd), which refers to a parallel learning system that provides a viable alternative to the existing formal education instruction and encompasses both non-formal and informal sources of knowledge and skills.
Second is the entrepreneurship track of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
The bill said this refers to “interventions focusing on the establishment of micro-enterprise through enhancement of skills, provision of financial capital and building or re-building physical and natural assets, and which covers product development, marketing and basic business finance.”
After completing this entrepreneurship track, 4Ps beneficiaries shall be given assistance by the DTI in establishing micro or small business enterprises and linking them to the respective entrepreneur’s target clientele; and
Last is the employment track of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) or their accredited private sector and civil society organizations.
