Retroactive payments for the delayed education grants are now credited to the bank accounts of household beneficiaries who were reinstated into the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) following a reassessment using the Social Welfare and Development Indicators (SWDI), the 4Ps National Program Manager said on Wednesday (August 14).
“We are pleased to announce that households that have been reinstated into the program have already received their education grants through the LandBank of the Philippines. These households include 4Ps beneficiaries whose grants were temporarily put on hold while we are conducting the SWDI assessment,” 4Ps National Program Manager and Director Gemma Gabuya pointed out.
According to Director Gabuya, the retroactive payments covering pay periods of the 10-month education grants for the year 2023 were already credited to the accounts of more than 650,000 household beneficiaries on August 14.
The National Program Manager also explained that the delayed health grants and rice subsidies of these reinstated households for the said pay periods were already distributed from December 2023 to June 2024.
Meanwhile, Director Gabuya added that another batch of more than 120,000 reinstated households are expected to receive their retroactive payment of education grants, health grants, and rice subsidies on August 17.
“We acknowledge that these grants are vital for the reinstated families and we are committed to ensuring that these funds reach them promptly,” Director Gabuya emphasized.
Under the program, the health and nutrition grant for each household beneficiary is Php750 per month, and Php600 for rice subsidy per month while the education grant for children in elementary is Php300 per month for 10 months; Php500 for those in junior high school; and Php 700 for those enrolled in senior high school.
The reinstatement of the more than 700,000 households into the program was the result of the SWDI assessment conducted following the numerous requests for reconsideration from 4Ps beneficiaries after the Listahanan 3 came out in 2022.
“After the assessment using the SWDI tool, we found that these households, who were initially tagged as non-poor by the Listahanan 3, still need support from the program to help them achieve self-sufficiency. It is noted that their level of well-being, as assessed by the Listahanan 3 in 2019, was halted due to the pandemic which struck in 2020. Hence, we reinstated them to become eligible for the grants that will help them improve their status,” Director Gabuya said.
SWDI assessment is now being used as the basis for the exit of the 4Ps household beneficiaries from the program under the National Advisory Council (NAC) Resolution No. 1 series of 2023 and was operationalized by the DSWD through the issuance of Memorandum Circular no. 19 series of 2023.
Based on the set of indicators in terms of economic sufficiency and social adequacy, households are categorized under three levels: level 1-survival, level 2-subsistence, and level 3-self sufficient. The result of the tool aids the program in identifying interventions needed by the family in order to achieve self-sufficiency.
The 4Ps, which was launched in 2008 and institutionalized in 2019 through Republic Act No. 11310 or the 4Ps Act, provides cash grants to more than 4 million households whose children are given subsidies to finish elementary and senior high school and supported with health and nutrition grants. #