PGMA, Albay ink P977.3-M fund for 4Ps to benefit 70,000 poor families

LEGAZPI CITY, Nov. 18 (PNA) -- Close to 70,000 poor families in Albay would benefit to the full implementation of "Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program" (4Ps), the Arroyo administration’s flagship poverty reduction program.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and the Provincial Government of Albay (PGA) to be represented by Governor Joey Salceda are set to sign the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) for the full implementation of the 4Ps set on Nov. 24 at Malacanang.

Salceda said Pres. Arroyo, through the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), has approved the P977.3 million fund for 4Ps full implementation in Albay.

The 4Ps currently implemented in the town of Libon this will be expanded to cover 11 municipalities (Polangui, Daraga, Libon, Jovellar Pioduran, Rapurapu, Manito, Sto.Dominngo, Malilipot,Bacacay and Malinao) including the cities of Tabaco, Legazpi and Ligao in this province.

The program would give every identified beneficiary family a P1,400 monthly financial subsidy for five years through the DSWD, Salceda said.

The provincial government of Albay have a target of 180,370 households, however, the magnitude of the poor families is 69,803, this means that only those poor families can qualify the program based from the criteria being followed by the DSWD.

The 4Ps is a poverty reduction strategy that provides grants top extremely poor households to improve their health, nutrition, and education particularly of children aged 0-14 years old.

Salceda said that the P977.3 million is the budgetary requirement per year. “This amount is much higher than the annual budget of the provincial government of Albay.”

The money will be released to the most responsible adult person in the household, usually the mother, through Electronic Card Banking System with Landbank of the Philippines.

The beneficiaries of the program will be identified based on a scoring system, utilizing the socio-economic characteristics of the household, such as non-ownership of assets/appliances, type of housing unit, level of educational attainment of household head and non-access to water and sanitation facilities.

Parents or heads of the family must see to it that their children will go to school regularly, avail of the necessary health services and to come up with a livelihood will definitely receive regular cash grant, failure to do so, will automatically mean for the suspension of their grant, Salceda said.

4Ps helps to fulfill the country’s commitment to meet the Millennium Development Goals such as eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, achieve universal primary education, promote gender equality, reduce child mortality and improve maternal health.

4Ps has dual objectives: Social Assistance - to provide cash assistance to the poor to alleviate their immediate need (short term poverty alleviation); and Social Development - to break the inter-generational poverty cycle through investments in human capital.