DSWD-7 : Nearly 30,000 4Ps beneficiaries in Central Visayas graduate from program

A 4Ps Municipal Link serves the written notice or letter to a Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) household in San Miguel, Bohol. | DSWD-7

Some 29,919 out of the 75,331 households in the first batch of beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) have already reassessed as self sufficient and are ready to graduate from the program.

These are the beneficiaries who were previously identified as non-poor in the Listahan 3 database of the Department of Social Welfare and Development in Central Visayas (DSWD-7).

READ: DSWD-7 doing over-the-counter payouts to 4Ps beneficiaries with no cash cards 

The DSWD has reassessed these beneficiaries and these resulted to the 29,919 beneficiaries being identified as self-sufficient or at level 3.

The DSWD reassessment also identified in 26 households at Level 1 or survival level; 45,386 households were in Level 2, or subsistence level.

The DSWD used the Social Welfare Development Indicator (SWDI) as a case management tool to determine the progress of the 4Ps households by measuring their level of well-being in terms of economic sufficiency and social adequacy. The SWDI result aids the program in identifying the interventions needed by the family to achieve or sustain the self-sufficiency level and who will exit the program.

READ: DSWD-7 : Nearly 70,000 4Ps beneficiaries in CV are non poor in Listahan 3 database

“The reassessed households belonging to Levels 1 and 2 will be retained in the master list of 4Ps beneficiaries while those identified Level 3 or Self-Sufficient will undergo the exit process of the program, which is the 4Ps Kilos Unlad Social Case Management Strategy,” DSWD-7 Regional Director Shalaine Marie Lucero said.

“Moreover, DSWD will resume the payout starting November 30, 2023, for the withheld health grants and rice subsidy for those who belong in Levels 1 and 2, specifically from January 2023 to September 2023. The agency will also start processing the education grants in February 2024 based on beneficiaries’ compliance,” she added.

READ: DSWD-7 encourage 4Ps, Listahan families to enlist in Lifeline Rate Subsidy Program

The Department assured the 4Ps households who will be graduating from the program of its continued support, as well as assistance from their respective local government units (LGUs) and other partner stakeholders, which shall provide other interventions and services after exiting from the program so they can sustain their level of well-being.

Based on the Joint Memorandum Circular (JMC) No. 2022-001 between DSWD and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), LGUs are encouraged to enact a social protection ordinance complementing the 4Ps, including post-program interventions for exited 4Ps households.

“To inform the 4Ps partner beneficiaries of the result of the SWDI assessment, DSWD 7 currently sends written notices to them through our city and municipal links stating their current level of well-being. We will also emphasize to them that we use the SWDI tool as the basis for them to exit from the program,” she said.

READ: DSWD reviews current list of 4Ps beneficiaries

DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian also signed a memorandum on the “Guidance on the Processing of Unpaid Grants to Qualified 759,041 4Ps Household Beneficiaries for the Period January 2023–September 2023” that covers the retroactive payment for the reassessed qualified households.

The 4Ps is the government’s major poverty alleviation program that invests in the health, nutrition, and education of poor households eligible for the program. Together with the psychosocial and educational components provided through the Family Development Session (FDS), the beneficiaries will have improved and sustained well-being. Implemented through DSWD, the program was institutionalized in 2019 by Republic Act 11310, or the 4Ps Act.

/dbs