THE IMPACT OF 4P’s ON THE ECONOMIC BEHAVIOR OF FAMILIES IN TAWIG,

PARACALE CAMARINES NORTE

CHAPTER 1
THE PROBLEM:

INTRODUCTION:

Poverty is the insufficiency or the lack of a certain amount of material possessions or money.

Poverty is a multifaceted concept, which includes economic, social, material, and political elements.

Absolute poverty, extreme poverty, or destitution refers to the complete absence of the means necessary to

meet fundamental personal needs such as food, clothing and shelter.

While social scientists seek objective definitions of a poverty line that accurately reflects social

norms, societies and sometimes governments develop understandings of what minimum living standards

and associated income levels are compatible with human decency. In this context, Veit-Wilson (1994, pp.

6-8) draws a sharp distinction between “scientific” poverty measures and “political” income standards.

He uses “scientific” to signify poverty thresholds based on empirical evidence about the costs of a

minimum participatory standard of living, including survey evidence about society’s standards, while

“political” standards are an expression of what governments officially accept as poverty lines or targets

that they do not want citizens to fall below.

(Hirsch,2014) If poverty means being unable to participate in the norms of contemporary society,

the measurement of poverty requires these norms to be defined. One way of doing so is to assume that

people living a long way below average income fall short of what is required. Another is to look at

patterns of consumption and ownership, and to define poverty in terms of being unable to live at a

standard achieved by the bulk of the population. A third is to draw more on attitudes among the general

public about what are essentials or what comprises an acceptable living standard. As pointed out recently

by two Norwegian experts on budget standards (Borgeraas and Brustal, 2008), all these methods
ultimately have a “normative” element, in that they relate to social norms, whether inferred or measured

directly. They are all intended to represent a threshold which in Adam Smith’s terms, “the custom of the

country renders it indecent” for people to fall below.

Conditional cash transfer (CCT) are programs that aim to minimize poverty through the use of

welfare programs that are conditional on the beneficiary’s actions. The government or a charity will only

grant the money to people who meet certain criteria. These criteria may include enrolling children into

public schools, getting regular check-ups at the doctor's office, receiving vaccinations, being in a family

with a particular number of member and the like. Conditional cash transfers endeavour to help the current

generation in poverty, as well as breaking the cycle of poverty for the next generation through the

development of human capital. Conditional cash transfers could help reduce the effects of poverty.

CCT program was implemented in Mexico in 1997. CCT program is considered proven to

effectively enhance the basic objectives of reducing poverty, improving educational achievement,

improving maternal and child counselling, and reducing malnutrition. In addition, CCT has revealed

impacts associated with improving the local economy, a double effect on human resource investment

and spill over the effects of educational attainment on wealthy families as well as the reduction of

child labor (World Bank, 2009).

Because it is considered successful, the CCT program is widely adopted by poor and

developing countries. There were approximately thirty countries implementing this CCT program until

2008 such as Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Panama, Ecuador, Peru, Chile,

Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia, Dominica, Jamaica, Honduras, Nicaragua, Burkina Faso, Nigeria,

Kenya, Yemen, Turkey, Brazil, Colombia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, Indonesia, Cambodia, the

Philippines, and Bangladesh. CCT program was also adopted in New York United State in2007 (World

Bank, 2009).
The Philippines is implemenng a
Condional Cash Transfer
(CCT) program, which is called
the
Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino
Program (4Ps). CCT program
provides cash to poor
households as
long as the beneciary
households comply with the
condions of the program. Health
grants are
provided for beneciary
households with children 0-14
years old and/or with pregnant
women
with the condions that all
children 0-5 years old and the
pregnant women visit health
centers
and receive services according to
Department of Health (DOH)
protocol, all children 6-14 years
old undergo de-worming protocol
at schools, and the household
grantees (mainly women) aend
family development sessions at
least once a month. Educaon
grants are provided for
beneciary
households with children 6-14
years old with the condions that
the children are enrolled in
primary
or secondary school and maintain a
class aendance rate of 85
percent every month.
The Philippines is implementing a Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) program, which is called the

Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps). CCT program provides cash to poor households as long as

the beneficiary households comply with the conditions of the program. Health grants are provided for

benefeciary households with children 0-14 years old and/or with pregnant women with the

conditions that all children 0-5 years old and the pregnant women visit health centers and receive

services according to Department of Health (DOH) protocol, all children 6-14 years old undergo

deworming protocol at schools, and the household grantees (mainly women) attend family development

sessions at least once a month. Education grants are provided for beneficiary households with children 6-

14 years old with the conditions that the children are enrolled in primary or secondary school and

maintain a class attendance rate of 85 percent every month.

Launched in February 2008, the

4Ps has now become one of the
largest an-poverty and social
protecon programs in the
Philippines. Following the
successful implementaon of
CCT programs
in other countries, the Philippines’
Department of Social Welfare and
Development (DSWD) pilot-
tested the 4Ps to 6,000 beneciary
households in four municipalies
and two cies in 2007, with
a planned target of 20,000
households. Since then, the 4Ps
has expanded signicantly in
coverage
and scale. The economic crises
that hit aer the program
launching, such as the food and
fuel
price shock in mid-2008 and the
global nancial crisis towards the
end of the year, prompted the
government to scale-up the
program to cover 376,000
households. As of January 2011,
the 4Ps has
about 1 million beneciary
households located in 782 cies
and municipalies in 81
provinces in all
17 regions in the Philippines. The
program is expected to cover 2.3
million households by the end
of 2011.
 Launched in February 2008, the 4Ps has now become one of the largest anti-poverty and social

protection programs in the Philippines. Following the successful implementation of CCT programs in

other countries, the Philippines’ Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) pilot-tested the

4Ps to 6,000 beneficiary households in four municipalities and two cities in 2007, with a planned target of

20,000 households. Since then, the 4Ps has expanded significantly in coverage and scale. The economic

crises that hit after the program launching, such as the food and fuel price shock in mid-2008 and the

global financial crisis towards the end of the year, prompted the government to scale-up the program to

cover 376,000 households. As of January 2011, the 4Ps has about 1 million beneficiary households

located in 782 cities and municipalities in 81 provinces in all 17 regions in the Philippines. The program

is expected to cover 2.3 million households by the end of 2011.

The main objective of the study is to determine the impact of 4p’s on the financial stability of

families in Tawig, Paracale Camarines Norte. The specific objectives of the study are: To determine the

demographic profile of the respondents; to identify ways in which respondents can explain the impact of

4ps in their life; to understand the respondents’ feelings towards 4ps; to explore the residents’ coping

practices and their way of living in relation to the Conditional Cash Transfer Program; and to develop

recommendations on the best methods of awareness strategy and action plan for improving respondents’

awareness and education on Conditional Cash Transfer.

CCT program was implemented

in
Mexico in 1997. CCT program
is considered
proven to effectively enhance
the basic
objectives of reducing poverty,
improving
educational achievement,
improving
maternal and child counseling,
and reducing
malnutrition. In addition, CCT
has revealed
impacts associated with
improving the local
economy, a double effect on
human resource
investment and spillover the
effects of
educational attainment on
wealthy families
as well as the reduction of child
labor (World
Bank, 2009)
CCT program was implemented
in
Mexico in 1997. CCT program
is considered
proven to effectively enhance
the basic
objectives of reducing poverty,
improving
educational achievement,
improving
maternal and child counseling,
and reducing
malnutrition. In addition, CCT
has revealed
impacts associated with
improving the local
economy, a double effect on
human resource
investment and spillover the
effects of
educational attainment on
wealthy families
as well as the reduction of child
labor (World
Bank, 2009)
CCT program was implemented
in
Mexico in 1997. CCT program
is considered
proven to effectively enhance
the basic
objectives of reducing poverty,
improving
educational achievement,
improving
maternal and child counseling,
and reducing
malnutrition. In addition, CCT
has revealed
impacts associated with
improving the local
economy, a double effect on
human resource
investment and spillover the
effects of
educational attainment on
wealthy families
as well as the reduction of child
labor (World
Bank, 2009)
CCT program was implemented
in
Mexico in 1997. CCT program
is considered
proven to effectively enhance
the basic
objectives of reducing poverty,
improving
educational achievement,
improving
maternal and child counseling,
and reducing
malnutrition. In addition, CCT
has revealed
impacts associated with
improving the local
economy, a double effect on
human resource
investment and spillover the
effects of
educational attainment on
wealthy families
as well as the reduction of child
labor (World
Bank, 2009)
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM:

A lot of studies mainly focus on the positive economic effects of conditional cash transfer

programs, rather than some of the negative effects that it might bring upon the beneficiaries. These

conditional cash transfer programs are now dominated by human influences and interests. In the Province

of Camarines Norte there are a lot of families that benefit from 4Ps or Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino

Program. In Paracale, a majority of its families rely on 4Ps as their main source of income.
 This study entitled, The Impact Of 4p’s On The Financial Stability Of Families In Tawig,
Paracale Camarines Norte is an attempt to answer the following questions:

1. What is the demographic profile of the respondents in terms of:

a. Age
b. Sex
c. Occupation
d. Educational Attainment
e. Size of household
2. What is their level of awareness regarding 4ps in terms of:
a. Requirements
b. Benefits
3. What is their attitude towards 4ps in terms of:
a. Reaction towards 4ps
b. Willingness to learn more about 4ps
4. What are the existing practices towards 4ps that they think are negative:
a. Existing negative practices.
b. Actions taken to prevent these practices.
c. Actions that they consider positive in relation to 4ps.

SCOPE AND DELIMITATION

Out of ____ households of Barangay Tawig, Paracale, Camarines Norte, ___ households

will be used as sample in conducting the survey. Only the head of each household will be

interviewed. Each of the respondents will be given the same questionnaire. There will also be a

focus group discussion that will include the heads of local organizations and barangay officials.

This study is an attempt to determine the level of awareness, understand attitudes, and

identify practices on 4ps.

The main assumption of this study is that 4ps has positive effects but also has negative

effects which can potentially cause abrupt changes in the ways of living of a certain community.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), the government’s conditional cash transfer (CCT), has

come into scrutiny by legislators with significant resources proposed for it next year. From P4 million in

2007 to support 6,000 households, the 2014 budget was P62.6 billion to assist 4 million households, and

will even grow next year with the extension of support to children in high school.

It must be understood that government officially defines poor according to income data and

poverty thresholds. The PSA generates income data through a meticulous process of asking detailed

information on income through surveys. The DSWD, through their Listahanan, on the other hand, obtains

information on facilities (such as electricity, toilets, walls, roofs) and assets (such as refrigerators,

television sets, and the like), and on the basis of a statistical model estimates household income (Albert,

2014). Almost every year the budget for this Conditional Cash Transfer Program such as 4Ps keeps on

increasing. Even though there are still a lot of requirements needed to be eligible for this program it is

inevitable that some households will abuse this program and not use the money they are given for its

intended use. The consequences of these practices will continue to progress through time and

should be properly addressed by the government to at least minimize the effects to families.

Since 4Ps is one of the major sources of livelihood in Barangay Tawig, Paracale,

Camarines Norte, the residents there become one of the groups that need proper knowledge and

assistance to avoid the detrimental impacts of such.

Therefore, the emphasized rationale behind this study is to address 4ps awareness and

education especially for the families in Barangay Tawig, Paracale, Camarines Norte which are

considered to be vital in terms of livelihood. In addressing the incorrect usage of 4Ps, it is vital to

address and bridge the gaps in knowledge, attitude, and practices among the residents, measures

on how to instill best practice and understanding must be highlighted.

 The researcher also hopes to help the LGU in terms of having an impression on how the

community understands the idea and purpose of 4Ps. This study aims to be of help in promoting

awareness to the residents, starting with each household. 4Ps is a very helpful government

program that needs to be discussed, its positive usages can come from individuals which are

being molded within the basic unit of society – family.

CHAPTER 2

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

This chapter is composed of related literatures, readings and studies. The researcher has gone

through extensive readings of materials both printed and viewed through the internet which has

great significance to the problem during the course of thesis writing. This chapter also shows the

Theoretical and Conceptual framework.

Understanding the 4Ps

About four years ago, Social Welfare Secretary Dinky Soliman invited me to join the

national advisory committee of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, or 4Ps, the social

protection program initiated by the Arroyo administration that President Aquino decided not only

to continue but also to expand. I knew that this program was heavily politicized. Like many other

things under the previous administration, the 4Ps was just another tool of patronage, a way of

rewarding loyal followers.

The number of beneficiary households enrolled in the 4Ps grew from less than 800,000 in

2010 to 4.4 million in 2015. The budget allocation likewise increased from P10 billion in 2010

to about P62.7 billion in 2016, making the 4Ps easily the centerpiece program of the P-Noy

presidency. This year, the program seeks to enlist another 200,000 households belonging to the
“near poor.” It is no joke running a payment system that reaches out to the most nomadic street

dwellers and the remotest indigenous communities.

What is unique about this program, after all, is that the government is transferring cash,

not to individuals, but to families with young children. The concept shifts the focus from the

merely poor, or the unemployed, to the children who are the intended beneficiaries of the

program. The 4Ps is thus far from being a comprehensive antipoverty program. Indeed, it does

not cover the elderly in our society, many of whom suffer from the triple disability of poverty,

disease, and senility.

Still, it would be a mistake to think that the 4Ps is just about families being paid by

government to make sure their children go to school regularly and get vaccinated and dewormed

at the health centers. A lot of consciousness-raising is taking place in the family development

sessions (FDS) that representatives of the beneficiary households, mostly women, are required to

attend once a month. In these highly participatory gatherings, parents learn about the rights of

children, gender equality, the handling of domestic conflict, family planning, basic financial

planning, the local sourcing of nutritious foods, ecological awareness, disaster preparedness, and

active citizenship.

The FDS is a unique feature of the Philippine CCT program. Its curriculum, drawn from

the lessons and best practices of Filipino community organizing, is an intensive course on social

awareness, capacity building, and self-reliance that is attuned to the imperatives of the modern

world. From these meetings, of which thousands are taking place every day all over the country,

one can immediately sense that something powerful and immeasurable is gushing from the

ground on which the state has planted something important (David, 2016)
Is the 4Ps a Mendicancy Program

The Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino program (4Ps) is getting hit by those who regard it as a

doleout scheme. The program is one of conditional cash transfers or CCTs: they help kids go to

school and remain healthy via family grants subject to set rules.

The 4Ps covers all 17 regions, reaching 80 provinces, 144 cities and 1,483 municipalities.

Focusing on the poorest of the poor, it serves 4.4 million households, including 10.2 million

schoolchildren.

Doleouts will not pull the indigent out of poverty. What will really work for them is to be

gainfully employed, to give their children adequate education, and to keep the whole family in

good health.

What the 4Ps supports are the latter two.

The 4Ps provides two kinds of grants to the beneficiaries. The health grant is P500 per

household per month, while the education grant is P300 per child per month for a maximum of

three children. Hence a poor family gets a subsidy of P1,400 per month at the most.

Many think that the CCTs follow this line: “Here is some money to help you, but there

are strings attached.” No, it is better put as: “Here are the practices that will lift you out of

poverty. And here is an incentive, cash support, for you to engage in these practices.”

The following are some of the conditions required by the 4Ps program.

Pregnant women must avail themselves of prenatal and postnatal care. Trained health

professionals must attend to their childbirths. Children 0-5 years old must go to regular

preventive health checkups and be vaccinated. Children 6-14 years old must get deworming pills
twice a year. All child beneficiaries must enroll in school and maintain a class attendance of at

least 85 percent per month.

The program shows very high compliance rates.

For example, a 2015 study revealed 99-percent compliance for school attendance among

children aged 6-14 years, 97 percent compliance for schoolchildren aged 15-18 years, 98 percent

compliance for children in day care, 96 percent compliance for health visits of pregnant women

and children aged 0-5 years. Moreover, the 4.4 million beneficiaries are covered by PhilHealth

insurance.

Won’t the money be wasted on those who are not really bottom poor?

That criticism applies to the old antipoverty programs. Previously, anyone could buy

cheap subsidized rice. Hence the subsidy got wasted on the not-so-poor, the middle class, and

even some rich who used the rice to feed their pets. The old antipoverty programs also favored

the “political poor” or those districts that voted for the incumbent local leaders. In contrast, the

4Ps uses a list of destitute families that came out of a national scientific survey.

Won’t the money be spent on the father’s alcohol and gambling?

The money is actually handed over to the mothers—who are arguably more concerned

with the family’s top priorities. Actually, the families have spent the funds well. Research in

2016 by former UP professor Lourdes Adriano and her team looked into the effect of the 4Ps into

the household economy.

The study found that Pantawid families were consuming more rice, clothing, health

items, education, utilities, communications, and recreational goods than non-Pantawid families.
The beneficiary households were also saving and investing more than the households outside the

program.

Won’t the CCTs make the poor lazy and opt not to work?

Applying simple math is helpful. Assume 30 days in a month, and five members of the

family (the national average), and that the entire sum goes to food. The P1,400 per month is

equal to around P3.11 per meal per person. It would be strange for anyone to give up his job to

make his family live in that small amount.

Research by Aniceto Orbeta and Vicente Paqueo (2013) for the Philippine Institute for

Development Studies looked into whether the 4Ps promoted laziness. They found no evidence of

this effect.

“On the contrary, it appears that Pantawid Pamilya has encouraged greater drive for work

for both the household head and his female spouse, for all adult members 18 years and above,

and for middle-aged workers 35-54 years,” they conclude.

Why not use the money instead for employing the destitute for building small-scale

infrastructure?

Emergency employment programs were useful in blunting the impact of the 2008-2009

global economic crisis on the Philippines. However, pulling a family out of poverty for the long

term requires protecting the education and health of the children.

The 4Ps does not turn the bottom poor into lazy mendicants. On the contrary, it helps

them pull themselves out of poverty, helped by investments in their education and health.

(Arroyo, 2018)
World Bank grants P21-B loan for 4Ps

The World Bank has approved a new $450-million (about P21 billion) loan to the

Philippines to augment funding for the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) over the next

four years.

The bank’s board of executive directors approved on Feb. 19 the Social Welfare

Development and Reform Project II (SWDRP2), which will cover some 7 percent of the total

cost to implement the 4Ps, also known as the conditional cash transfer program (CCT), from

2016 to 2019, it said in a statement released on Saturday.

The bulk of the amount to be spent on the 4Ps will still come from the annual national

budget.

“The World Bank is steadfast in its commitment and support for the CCT because we

believe it contributes to reducing extreme poverty and inequality. Combined with high and

sustained economic growth, CCT as a social safety net provides an equitable foundation for

growth that works for the poor,” said Cecilia Vales, the bank’s acting country director for the

Philippines.

According to the World Bank, the 4Ps “has grown into one of the largest and best-

targeted social safety net programs in the world, with 82 percent of the benefits going to the

bottom 40 percent of the country’s population.”

 At present, the program benefits more than four million poor families, including 11

million children, it said.

“Recent studies show the program has reduced the total poverty and food poverty among

CCT beneficiaries by up to 6.7 percentage points. At the national level, estimates show the

program reduced both total poverty and food poverty by up to 1.4 percentage points in 2013,” the

World Bank said.

4Ps Beneficiaries Gamble Money

Officials of Davao Oriental have asked the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office

(PCSO) to regulate the operation and presence of Small Town Lottery (STL) there.

Gov. Nelson Dayanghirang and the province’s 11 mayors told PCSO officials during a

recent meeting that STL outlets had mushroomed in the province and had been indiscriminately

placed near schools, churches and along the highway.

The proliferation of STL outlets, they said, “encouraged the culture of gambling among

residents while adversely affecting the province’s image.”

It was not clear how many STL booths had been put up in the entire province since the

PCSO allowed STL operations there in October.

But people were now placing more bets than they did on illegal gambling, Dayanghirang said.

“Instead of buying food for their families, people are being tempted to place bets for the

game,” he said.
 This was apparently the effect of too frequent daily draws for the STL, Dayanghirang

said.

He said draws were being held six times a day and these “drastically affect the spending

behaviors of the locals who are mostly 4Ps beneficiaries.”

The government is currently implementing a program called 4Ps—Pantawid Pamilyang

Pilipino Program—which distributes cash to the poorest of the poor on condition they send

children to school and pregnant women to regular checkups.

The STL operation, according to Dayanghirang, “makes matters worse” instead of

combating gambling.

“We have been trying hard in our antipoverty efforts and yet we are allowing an operation

that further pushes our constituents to poverty,” he added (Lim, 2017)

4Ps Not Anti-Poverty just Stop-Gap

Social Welfare Secretary Judy Taguiwalo on Tuesday said her department may seek a

smaller budget in the coming years as they were studying whether or not to continue the previous

administration’s conditional cash transfer program, which she said was not an anti-poverty

measure but a mere “stop-gap” solution.

“I’m not saying that it is bad. But I think most people would like to see our poor not just

accepting financial assistance. And I think even poor beneficiaries we talked with, they said they

want jobs rather than right now just depending on the government, and that’s the direction we

want to take,” Taguiwalo said.

 “It’s not an anti-poverty program. This is not the solution to poverty. It’s a stop-gap

program… How can that solve poverty? It’s like providing relief to poor families… Even the

data would reveal that poverty was not reduced. You have individual families who have

succeeded and we’re happy for that, but that’s not true for 4.4 million families,” she added.

The program provides cash grants to some 4.4 million beneficiary households on the

condition that they comply with requirements such as regular health checkups for pregnant

women and children, and enrollment of children from daycare through high school. Beneficiaries

are also required to attend family development sessions and must train to operate their preferred

livelihood projects.

Taguiwalo said she wanted poor families to be able to tell themselves that they worked

their way out of poverty through their own skills and community efforts and not by merely

relying on government dole-outs.

This, she said, can be done through job facilitation and other alternatives that the

department was studying in coordination with other key government agencies and a proper

economic direction.

Asked if the 4Ps was at the risk of not being continued under her watch, Taguiwalo said

she could not drop it just yet, at least for another three years, due to an existing agreement with

the World Bank and the number of families still depending on the program, which was pegged at

4.4 million.

So I think I need a deeper study of the 4Ps and other alternatives, but definitely I’m

against institutionalizing the 4Ps… We want that at the end of the day, when they have
transitioned or improved their lives, they can say to themselves that ‘we did it and we did it

ourselves,’” Taguiwalo said.

“It’s a question of what kind of economic direction would you like to pursue. Poverty in

the rural areas is pervasive probably because the farmers don’t have land. I hope we take into

consideration the fact that accessible social services like education and housing should be given

priority,” she added.

Taguiwalo said the DSWD was also validating reports that some families have already

reached the poverty threshold and can be considered as “non-poor but still near-poor,” adding

that the department would still have programs for them.

The DSWD earlier said that aside from cash, 4Ps beneficiaries would receive rice

subsidies starting next year as part of an improved conditional cash transfer under the new

administration (Gonzales, 2016).

4PS Beneficiaries Pawn Cash Cards

Dionela Flores-Madrona, head of provincial operations of the Pantawid Pamilyang

Pilipino Program (4Ps), or the conditional cash transfer scheme, said the move would ensure that

the cards are still with beneficiaries and not with loan sharks.

The program is aimed at helping the poorest of the poor by giving them monthly stipends,

provided they bring their children to health centers, send them to school, and attend family

development sessions.
 Madrona said the 259 had pawned their cards to usurers for P500 to P1,000 each. The

most common reason given by the beneficiaries is that they needed money urgently for the

hospital expenses of relatives.

At least 96 were found to have pawned their cash cards in Bacolod, 66 in Cadiz City, 51

in Escalante City, 19 in San Carlos City, 10 in Talisay City, 14 in Hinigaran town, two in Silay

City, and one in Toboso town.

The irregularity was discovered in December last year after the DSWD verified a tip that

several beneficiaries had pawned their cards—actually, automated teller machine cards of Land

Bank of the Philippines—through which 4Ps beneficiaries get their cash allocations.

Loan sharks collect payment by withdrawing the money meant for the beneficiaries.

Cash assistance to 4Ps beneficiaries is released every two months. The amount per family

ranges from P600 to P2,800, depending on the number of children a beneficiary has.

Those caught misusing their cards are made to sign a notice of warning from the DSWD

and given counseling by a social worker.

They would not also receive their cash assistance for the month, but would not yet be

removed from the program. Those committing the offense for the third time would be

permanently delisted.

Madrona said the DSWD could not sue the loan sharks in the absence of a law penalizing

them.

But the agency could confiscate the cash cards, which are government property, she said

(Gomez, 2015).
 Loyla, Song and Wei (2013) investigated how several government and non-government

financial aid are distributed across the university system in China. These aids come in a variety

of forms including, but not limited to, need based grants, living and meal subsidies, merit-based

scholarships, tuition waivers, loan etc. While the general intention is to provide aid to students

from low income families, it is only government aid which seems to reach the target population,

but less lightly among university- and society-financed aid. Unfortunately, it was also found out

that 20% of the bottom 30% of the SES distribution fails to receive any form of financial aid.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) invested some 2.3

billion in supporting basic education among developing, countries from 1990 to 2005. In the

interest of summarizing these efforts in terms of the programs that were carried out, how well

they were performed, and their effectiveness, Champman and Quijada (2013) reviewed available

documentations and evaluation reports from 33 projects form different developing, countries.

Programs took several forms from scholarships, to curriculum development, to feeding

programs. Of the 33 projects, five reported meaningful improvement of learning due to the

intervention. The project in Ghana resulted to achievement gains in Math grew by 38%, and 15%

in English, after 2 years of the program. It is likely, that there are more which resulted to increase

learning; however, they were not well documented. Findings also suggest more realistic

expectations for these types of projects. Consistent multi-year achievement gains are only at 2%

- 6%; dropout decline at 4% - 8%, and improved completion rates at 2.9& - 13.4% (Champman

& Quijada, 2013).

Although not limited to aiding educational needs, conditional cash transfer (CCT)

programs share a lot of commonalities of the SPUM's financial assistance program. CCT

programs transfer cash to poor families on the condition that these families invest on health and
education. The general goal of CCT programs is to break the poverty cycle (Saavedra and

Garcia, 2013). The meta-analytic study of Saavedra and Garcia (2013) examined the impact of

CCT programs on educational outcome from different developing countries. They found out that

CCT programs have significant impact on enrollment, attendances, and decline of dropout levels.

The amount of monetary provisions likewise positively correlated with better educational

outcomes in terms of enrolment and attendance. Programs that transfer money on a bimonthly

basis have higher effect sizes on educations outcomes compared to programs which release the

provision monthly. Finally, results show that imposing conditions such as "no failing grade",

rather than mere attendance requirements, is associated with, higher enrolment, and better

attendance.

The Philippines' version on CCT is called Pantawid Pamilyang Pitipino Program (4Ps).

By 2013, Reyes and Taguba stated that no comprehensive impact evaluation of the 4Ps has been

published since it began in 2007. This local CTC program is described by Reyes and Taguba

(2013). The 4Ps allocate P 6,000.00 per year (P 500.00/month) to each family, for health, and

nutrition expenses. Another P 3,000.00 is given annually per child (maximum of three children

only), for educational expenses in one school year (i.e., P 300.00/month). To continue receiving

the subsidy, the families must fulfill the following: (1) mothers who are pregnant must have pre

and post-natal care, and attended to, by a trained health professional during delivery; (2) parents

need to attend development sessions; (3) children aged 0-5 years old need to receive regular

medical checkup and vaccines; (4) children age 3-5 years old need to attend preschool classes at

least 85% of the time; (5) children 6-14 years old need to attend elementary or secondary

education at least 85% of the time; (6) finally, children 6-14 should receive deworming pill twice

a year.
 The primary concern of Reyes and Taguba (2013) was the question of whether the 4Ps is

actually reaching its target population, whom are considered the extreme poor. Based on their

finding, in 100 beneficiaries, 27 are actually non-poor. This implies that there is a need to

improve the targeting system of the government.

According to (Virador, 2017) the 4Ps presents an engaging deal of promise for the poor

families that constitute most of the Philippines’ population. By setting health and education

conditionalities, the program prompts its poor beneficiaries to utilize the existing social services,

thereby improving their human capabilities in the long run. Being a beneficiary of 4Ps translates

to an increased likelihood in visiting health centers and attending school. Accordingly, the

researchers support the principle behind 4Ps that healthy and educated citizens are essential for a

productive society.

However, 4Ps may also be subject to insufficiencies during its implementation. To

illustrate, it was observed that the odds ratio of going to school for children aged 15-17 is

significantly lower compared to the younger subgroups. This indicates that older children are less

concerned with their education as they may be more inclined to provide for the family by

working instead. This is a possible area of improvement for the program as the attainment of

higher education of a family member is a better means of alleviating a family from poverty than

underage labor. Lastly, to ensure the continuity and effectiveness of 4Ps from one administration

to another, the government and the citizens must perform their corresponding duties through

collaborative compliance (Co, 2017).

 How the Pantawid Pamilya can impact poverty in the Philippines is of interest given the

investments poured in by government into this new program. Past social assistance programs –

and even many of those existing now – suffer from high leakage of benefits to unintended

beneficiaries because of mis-targeting (World Bank, 2018; Manasan and Cuenca, 2017).

The Pantawid Pamilya is the first program in the Philippines that benefits from an

objective, transparent, and a uniform system of targeting poor household beneficiaries. Early

signs of successful program implementation of the Pantawid Pamilya and its targeting system,

combined with the government’s realization of the immediate need to address the high degree of

vulnerability among Filipinos, led to the program’s rapid scale up. Consequently, budget

allocation to the Pantawid Pamilya increased rapidly – it doubled from 2010 to 2011 and now

has grown by more than 10 folds since it was launched in 2008. Rigorous impact evaluations of

these programs in other countries show that CCTs can be good instruments to address present

and future poverty (Fiszbein and Schady, 2014). Expectations are high that the Philippine CCT

program will deliver on this same promise.

The National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR) is the

government’s largest and most updated database of poor households. The Department of Social

Welfare and Development (DSWD) conducted a nationwide survey for the NHTS-PR from 2008

until 2010. It started as a small survey operation to identify potential program beneficiaries of the

Pantawid Pamilya. The survey resulted in a database that, as of April 2011, contains more than

50 million individuals and 10.8 million households from 80 provinces across the country. Of this

number, the database identifies about 5.2 million poor households using a PMT model. The PMT

is widely considered to be the most straightforward, practical, and reliable way to gauge poverty

particularly in countries such as the Philippines with a large informal sector and where actual
incomes are difficult to verify.9 About 75 percent of poor households in the database live in rural

areas and 25 percent in urban areas, which reflects the distribution of the poor based on official

national household poverty surveys (Philippine Social Protection Note, 2013).

Student Assistance is a collaborative framework that creates opportunities for all students

and families to be healthy, successful and connected. As a framework, it is a powerful resource

program intended by an educational community to provide help for those in need of support.

Beneficiaries of the SAP among private HEIs are of varied categories. There are those

institutionally financed, and those of government sponsored programs which would both require

grades. Student Assistance Program (SAP) such as Athletics, Cultural diversity intervention,

Guidance and Counselling Services, Health (medical and dental), Legal Aid/Assistance, Loan

Grants, Scholarships based on Academic Merits, working students /student assistants, Tutorial,

Other Forms of Student Assistance (Tuition Discounts, Dormitory, Meals etc.) are sustained

despite budget constraints. These are their initiatives for them to contribute in the reduction of

poverty related problems in Cagayan de Oro City (Daroy, 2014).

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

Humans by nature are social beings. We learn out of our interactions with fellow human

beings and the environment where we belong. It is supposed to be a dynamic interaction between

persons, complementing each other’s needs, more particularly in terms of material needs, like

food, clothing, shelter, etc., with specific sectors producing such needs. This is a natural

interdependency involving economics that man lives by to affect stability and survival. “No man
is an island” indeed. We buy and sell goods and services. There is a continuous exchange of

activities.

According to social psychological and sociological perspective the social exchange

theory explains social change and stability as a process of negotiated exchanges between parties.

Social exchange theory posits that all human relationships are formed by the use of a subjective

cost-benefit analysis and the comparison of alternatives. The theory has roots in economics,

psychology and sociology.

This is the very same principle that the Philippines 4Ps is anchored on. It is based on

reciprocity—“I give, but you also give.”

The social exchange theory, also called the communication theory of social exchange,

suggests that human beings make social decisions based on perceived costs and benefits. This

hypothesis asserts that people evaluate all social relationships to determine the benefits they will

get out of them. This is the comparison level where individuals assess the gains in maintaining

such social relationship. It also suggests that someone will typically leave a relationship if he or

she perceives that the effort, or cost, of it outweighs any perceived advantages. In the 4Ps,

however, the implementers do make or break the relationship.

Conceptual Framework

ATTITUDE
KNOWLEDGE Self-evaluation PRACTICE
Familiarity & Awareness Feasibility
How fo you feel about 4Ps?
What is your idea about
4Ps? Have you taken any actions
Motivation to adapt/cope to 4Ps?
How much do you know
about 4Ps? What have you done?
Would you like to learn more
about 4Ps?

Figure 2. Conceptual Framework of the study

The questions and survey statement were principally developed to fit a conceptual

framework. It just shows that practices regarding 4Ps awareness and usage can be changed by

adjusting attitudes through knowledge and awareness.

Operational Definition of Variables

 4Ps: is a conditional cash transfer program of the Philippine government under the

Department of Social Welfare and Development. It aims to eradicate extreme poverty

in the Philippines by investing in health and education particularly in ages 0–14.

Operational: any change in the usual economic situation –that is felt by the

residents of Barangay Tawig, Paracale, Camarines Norte.

 Knowledge: information, understanding, or skill that one can get from experience or

education
 Operational: the degree of understanding of the residents of Barangay Tawig,

Paracale, Camarines Norte about 4Ps, its benefits and consequences

 Attitude: a feeling or way of thinking that affect a person’s behavior

Operational: a way of self-evaluation of one’s feelings towards 4Ps
 Practices: to do something regularly or constantly as an ordinary part of one’s life
Operational: actions taken by residents of Barangay Tawig, Paracale, Camarines

Norte in adapting or coping to 4Ps

 Adaptation: adapting to the 4ps by economically conscious societies and fostering

sustainable development in securing a future for families

Operational: the act or process of adapting with 4Ps by the residents of Barangay

Tawig, Paracale, Camarines Norte

 Mitigation: structural and non-structural measures undertaken to limit the adverse

impact of negative habits towards 4ps

Operational: ways on making negative 4Ps practices less severe and harmful by the

residents of Barangay Tawig, Paracale, Camarines Norte