Quezon City – The Department of Social Welfare and Development has released the approved National Advisory Council (NAC) Resolution 1 series of 2021 “Adopting the Guidelines for the Removal of Persistently Non-Compliant Beneficiaries in the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) in adherence to the approved 4Ps law.

The implementation of the corresponding guideline shall commence during the 1st period (P1) covering the month of February and March of the Compliance Verification/Payment Cycle for 2021.

Under Section 12 of the Republic Act 11310, otherwise known as the Institutionalization of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), it states in that “should the qualified household-beneficiary so notified persist in not complying with the conditions within a period of one (1) year since the day of receipt of the written notification, the household-beneficiary shall be removed from the program”.

The corresponding guidelines provide safeguards to support the persistently non-compliant household beneficiaries resolve the barriers impairing them from complying the program conditions. A beneficiary found to be non-compliant will be subjected to case management where appropriate steps to resolve the problem of non-compliance will be acted upon by the beneficiary himself guided by the case manager.

Through the case management process, the beneficiary undergo a transformative process as he/she is guided through new information and ways, evaluate past ideas beliefs and understanding which through critical reflection leads to change of perception. The beneficiaries must first give prime value to their membership to the program and understanding the conditions to be complied, including valuing their health and gaining education. Their experience of difficulty of compliance can be resolved by addressing the root cause of the problem. For education, it is usually the eagerness to earn and contribute to the family income which is usually not enough.  The beneficiary can be provided access to alternative learning modalities offered by DepEd. The program impact evaluations have showed that high school graduates have higher earning opportunities than those who did not graduate high school, and much more if they will be able to graduate college. On a case to case basis, the compliance problem must be addressed directly. The case management process outcome will subsequently keep them on track and remain in the program after the appropriate case management intervention.

The resolution will be auspicious for the beneficiaries considering that non-compliant household beneficiaries will not be immediately terminated and removed, but instead will be given 1-year evaluation period to prove that they are willing to comply with the conditions of the program.

The 4Ps is a national government program being led by DSWD. It is a national poverty reduction strategy and a human capital investment program that provides conditional cash transfer to poor households for a maximum of seven (7) years, to improve the health, education, and nutrition aspect of their lives.

The program also aims to empower the beneficiaries and provide them access to available services, opportunities, value education, be mainstreamed as financial community. ###