The National Government and its branch departments have been a huge proponent of a lot of

programs for social welfare over the years. They initiated and launched programs like Kapit -
Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan – Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services –
National Community - Driven Development Program or Kalahi CIDSS – NCDDP, the
Sustainable Livelihood Program or SLP, The Listahanan that is operated by the National
Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction or NHTS – PR, the Supplemental Feeding
Program, the Disaster Response Operations, Recovery and Reintegration Program for
Trafficked Persons or RRTP, Payapa at Masaganang Pamayanan or PAMANA, Protective
Services Program, International Social Welfare Services for Filipino Nationals or ISWSFN, and
Bottom – Up Budgeting or BUB (Wikipedia, 2021). These social welfare programs, though not
perfect and not implemented flawlessly, have definitely existed and have been created to tend
for certain needs of the people.

The Philippine social protection notes series aims to summarize the good
practices and key findings from the Philippines on the topics related to social protection,
covering a variety of types of issues including Conditional Cash Transfers (CCT) and targeting,
broadening the social protection policy dialogue, analysis on social protection and service
delivery. The Philippines is implementing a CCT program, which is called the Pantawid
Pamilyang Pilipino Program (PPPP). CCT program provides cash to poorest households as
long as the beneficiary households comply with the conditions of the program. Health grants are
provided for beneficiary 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 de-worming 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 (Olfindo, 2011).

Beneficiaries are objectively selected through the National Household Targeting System,
also known as Listahanan, which is based from a survey of the physical structure of their
houses, the number of rooms and occupants, their access to running water, and other factors
affecting their living conditions. The program has one of the most comprehensive poverty
targeting databases in the world today, covering 75% of the country’s population. It has been
used extensively to identify poor and near-poor beneficiaries for national and local government
programs. Started in 2007, the government expanded the program in December 2016 to reach
a total of 20 million Filipinos belonging to 4.4 million households. The program benefits about
20% of the population, the majority of the nation’s poor. 9 million children are currently
benefiting from the program, 1.9 million of which are in high school. The program has also
achieved almost universal enrollment for elementary age children of 4Ps households.Social
protection programs, Pantawid included, have cushioned the poor from the adverse impacts of
various shocks the country experienced over the past six years. A study estimates that the
program has led to a poverty reduction of 1.4 percentage points per year or 1.5 million less poor
Filipinos.The 4Ps is currently the world’s fourth-largest CCT program based on population
coverage. It complements the government’s other development priorities such as generating
jobs and creating livelihood opportunities for the poor (The World Bank, 2017).

There are some developments over the first few years of the implementation of the
Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program. In 2012, the Modified Conditional Cash Transfer
Programme (MCCT) was launched to reach homeless street families (HSF), indigenous peoples
(IPs) in geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas (GIDA) and families in need of special
protection (FNSP, including those affected by disasters), thus addressing some limitations of the
regular conditional cash transfer programme. This intervention differs in terms of its targeting,
conditionalities, benefits and modes of implementation. Free health insurance and access to
primary health care as well as participation in the Sustainable Livelihood Programme (SLP) are
also available to Pantawid beneficiaries. SLP provides micro-enterprise development and
employment facilitation activities. The total amount varies according to household composition
and compliance with the programme’s conditionalities: Education monthly grant (provided 10
months per year up to a maximum of 3 children per household): PHP300 for children 3 to 14
years old and PHP500 for children of 15 to 18 years of age Health monthly grant (provided
every month): PHP500.00 per household Rice subsidy: as of 2017, beneficiary households are
entitled to an additional cash grant serving as rice subsidy in the amount of PHP7,200 per year
or PHP600 per month per household Microfinance services and training are available to
participants of the SLP programme. MCCT beneficiaries are also eligible for shelter assistance
and specific incentives in terms of access to jobs and livelihood opportunities or community
income-generating activities (SocialProtection, 2021).

The 4 P’s or Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program is officially legalized by the "Pantawid
Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4 Ps) Act " or the Republic Act No. 11310 (Seventh Congress of
the Philippines, 2019). Accordingly, the Republic Act declares its policies as follows: The State
shall promote a just and dynamic social order thereby uplifting its citizens and marginalized
sectors from poverty through policies that provide adequate social services, promote full
employment, a rising standard of living, and an improved quality of life for all. The act gives
importance to foster social justice as provided for in Article XIII of the 1987 Constitution. Its
objective is to ensure some things.

The Congress shall give highest priority to the enactment of measures that protect and
enhance the right of all the people to human dignity, reduce social, economic, and political
inequalities, and remove cultural inequities by equitably diffusing wealth and political power for
the common good is the highest. The Congress is the government body that serves as the law
and policy maker of the country. The Lower House of the Congress that is also called the House
of Representatives which is composed of the Representatives and the Upper House of the
Congress that is also called the Senate which is composed of Senators are making the
Legislative Branch of the Government work. Aside from formulating and authoring laws and
Republic Acts or questioning and amending existing laws and Republic Acts, the Congress is
also responsible for setting the National Budget for a particular year. This is perhaps why the
Republic Act No. 11310 or the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Act mentioned this in its policies.

The promotion of social justice shall include the commitment to create economic
opportunities based on freedom of initiative and self-reliance. The Republic Act is absolutely
concerned with the social welfare or the so – called ‘social justice’ of the Filipino people,
especially those who belong to the lower class financially or the poor households. This act will
serve as a helping hand to create the opportunities for the families who cannot support
themselves by themselves. As discussed above, the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program will
grant the classified poor Filipino families financial assistance as a way to give them some sort of
boost towards freedom of initiative and eventually, they can stand on their own. Towards this
end, the State shall establish programs that invest and harness our country’s human capital and
improvement of delivery of basic services to the poor, particularly education, health and
nutrition, which is an intervention anticipated to break the intergenerational cycle of poverty.
 The act aims to break the intergenerational cycle of poverty through investment in
human capital and improved delivery of basic services to the poor, particularly education,
health, nutrition, and early childhood care and development. If a child’s parents is born poor and
their whole lives they are poor, without the support and intervention of the National Government,
most likely, that particular child’s eventual children and perhaps his / her grandchildren, will be
poor as well. This is referred to by the Republic Act as ‘Intergenerational Cycle of Poverty”. The
Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program Act aims to end this cycle through helping these poor
Filipino Families. This will help the children in these households to learn about what they can do
to improve their lives and help them realize that it is possible to end their troubling financial
struggles. By giving them the investment of opportunity, a some kind of boost per se, it is
possible to eventually end this cycle of Poverty.

The Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program Act also aims to promote gender equality and
empowerment of women and children’s rights. It is very important for a nation of people that
wanted to improve their lives to improve their mindsets as well. For the longest time, in history,
people always thought that Male is the superior sex and Female is the inferior one. First and
foremost, many of us, if not virtually all of us, believe that Males are almost always physically
more dominant and capable than Females. That is even though the Female is the only sex that
is physically capable of developing another human inside their womb for 9 months. Males can
never do that. It is very apparent that for many years, societies thought that Males are
intellectually and mentally better than Females. Most great and brilliant people, ranging from
respected military / nation leaders to the brightest scientists, Males dominate the history books.
This is because Females were not given the opportunity to learn back then. This is such a
shame since we know that there are brilliant women right now that have done great things if not
better than what most men can do today. The Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program Act aims to
emphasize that equality among genders is very important.

The Republic Act No. 11310 also want to achieve universal primary education.
Education is the very foundation of the brilliant people in different fields that we know right now.
The genius medical doctors, the calculating entrepreneurs, the great engineers, and cunning
innovators that we know right now would not be able to even read nor write anything without
primary education. They wouldn’t be able to cure the sick, or build a successful business, or
construct tall buildings in the cities, or create the next big tech, if they do not possess the
fundamentals of a developed and capable individual. These fundamental blocks can be
acquired by children through Primary Education. This is important if we want to create a better
future for our future nation. This is what the Act wants to achieve through 4 Ps.

The Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program Act wants to reduce child mortality and
malnutrition. It is important for the future that the National Government wants to create that
children, particularly infants, to have ideal health and have access to proper nutrition. The future
that we wanted to have wouldn’t be realized if the future generation of individuals that will build
our country don’t have the proper and enough access to physiological and basic needs. The
children right now and the children that will be born in the future will need the appropriate
nutirition so that they can showcase their brilliance in the future. This also entail improvement of
maternal health. The 4Ps program aims to take care of the health, physiologically and
psychologically, of the pregnant mothers. This will protect not only the mothers’ health but also
the health of the children that they bear.

Lastly, the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program Act aims to ensure healthy lives and
promote well-being for all. This is can be achieved little by little. There is no over night success
formula for this. It will take time for the National Government and the Filipino people collectively
to provide definite healthy lives and well – being for every single one of us. This Republic Act is
one of the ways and means of the Philippine National Government to reach this goal.

The Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (PPPP or 4 P’s), as discussed above, is an

example of a Conditional Cash Transfers Initiative or CCT. This is a type of program that aim to
reduce and alleviate poverty (Wikipedia, 2020). This is a helpful intervention by the National
Governments like Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, Cambodia, Chile, Colombia, Egypt,
Guatemala, Honduras, Indonesia, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Turkey, and
even the world leader nation the United States of America. Argentina has implemented the
Universal allocation per child Eligibility for the scheme was focused on families without formal
employment and earning less than the minimum wage who ensured their children attended
school, received vaccines and underwent health checks. Bangladesh came up with the Female
Secondary School Assistance Project, established in 1994. This CCT program, conditional only
on school attendance and girls remaining unmarried, provides tuition and stipends. Brazil
implemented Bolsa Familia that provides monthly cash payments to poor households if their
school-aged children (between the ages of 6 and 15) are enrolled in school, and if their younger
children (under age 6) have received vaccinations. Cambodia implemented the Cambodia
Education Sector Support Project, established in 2005, is conditional on attendance and
maintaining passing grades. Chile implemented Chile Solidario that requires the family to sign a
contract to meet 53 specified minimum conditions seen as necessary to overcome extreme
poverty. In exchange, they receive from the state psychosocial support, protection bonds,
guaranteed cash subsidies, and preferential access to skill development, work and social
security programs. Colombia offers Familias en Acción that is a conditional cash transfer
program, very similar to the Mexican PROGRESA/Oportunidades, consisting of cash transfers
to poor families conditional on children attending school and meeting basic preventive health
care requirements. Egypt offers Program Minhet El-Osra, began in 2009, currently being piloted
in an urban slum in Cairo, Ain Es-Sira, and 65 villages in rural Upper Egypt by the Egyptian
Ministry of Social Solidarity.

And for sure the Philippines joined the club eventually in 2008. This type/ kind of
program is where a National Government, and/ or a charity, grant a certain amount of cash to
the classified poor families in their country that met the certain criteria that they have set. These
criteria can be enrolling children into public schools, getting regular check-ups at the doctor's
office, receiving vaccinations, and some others. These qualifications is necessary to determine
if the family, especially the head of the respective families like the parents or guardians of the
young ones, is using the money granted by the program into good use.

According to a Quantitative Study titled “Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps):

The Effectiveness on Social Welfare and Development” done by Tabilog (n.d.), Most of the
beneficiaries belong to a family with 4 to 6 members and have 3 beneficiary children, with
parents mostly are high school graduates, resides in a house with iron sheet roofing, concrete
walls and uses pail system in the toilet. Majority of them owns their house, has an electric fan, a
television and a cellular phone. They earn money from employment like construction worker,
have other source, or the parent(s) is/are a vendor or a driver. It is also determined that
parenting and home management programs are observed. Family development sessions,
financial management sessions and sustainable livelihood programs are conducted on a regular
basis. Additionally, 4Ps support in its beneficiaries’ health and nutrition are highly observed.
This include immunization of infants and children below three (3) years old, distribution of
deworming pills for children in elementary schools twice a year and pre-natal consultation for
pregnant beneficiary mothers, among others. In terms of parenting and home management, it is
to teach the beneficiaries of awareness to disaster risk reduction and management, cognizance
to the rights of women and children and knowledge on health and nutrition, among others. As to
education, 4Ps is effective to an extent level. There is an improved access of children to formal
education, increased school attendance and improved grades of children. In terms of economic
sufficiency, the program has an extent level of effectiveness. It affects the ability of beneficiaries
to suffice the needs of the family with less cost, ability to generate income other than
employment and job stability. Furthermore, There is no significant relationship between the
respondents’ view on the 4Ps support and the level of effectiveness on social welfare and
development of its beneficiaries. This means that the assessment of the respondents to the
level of effectiveness on social and development of beneficiaries is independent from the
assessment of the respondents on the 4Ps support.

The study concludes that most of the beneficiaries met the requirements set by the 4Ps
and they are qualified enough to become beneficiaries of the program. The 4Ps support given to
its beneficiaries are in accordance with the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s
mission to provide social protection and promote the rights and welfare of poor, vulnerable and
disadvantaged individuals, families and communities contributing to poverty alleviation and
empowerment. 4Ps is effective in developing human capital as reflected by promotion of parent
empowerment and realization of their full potential as members of the family and of the society,
improvement of children’s health, and enhancement of children’s school attendance and grades.
Lastly, 4Ps support and the level of effectiveness on social welfare and development is
independent to each other. A diligent research study that employed statistical approaches has
found that to some degree, the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program or 4 Ps is effective in
alleviating poverty and helping Filipino Families financially.

The Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program ( 4 P’s ) has laid down criteria that the
families have to meet to receive the welfare grant. These conditions are for the Pregnant
women, children that are between the ages of 0 – 18 years old, and the Responsible Member of
the Family, preferably parents (Department of Social Welfare and Development, n.d.). The
qualifications for Pregnant Women are: Availing of Pre-Natal Services, giving birth in a health
facility, and receive post-partum and post-natal care. The critera for children in family between 0
– 5 years old are: receiving regular health and nutritional services, and undergo check ups and
vaccinations. The conditions for children in the family between 1 – 14 years old is: availing of
deworming pills twice a year. The criteria for children between 3 – 4 years old in the family is:
attending day care or pre-school classes with at least 85% attendance. The children between 5
– 18 years old have to meet the condition of: attending elementary or secondary school classes
with at least 85% attendance as well. And lastly, the Responsible member of the family has to:
Attending monthly family Development Sessions or FDS is the criteria that he/she has to meet.

The Department of Social Welfare and Development or DSWD, as a Branch Department

of the Philippine National Government, has received annual portion of the Total Annual National
Budget that was approved by the President. This allocated budget of the DSWD is now
budgeted into the different programs like the Social Welfare Programs that the Department
needs to implement. This includes the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program ( 4 Ps ). A total of
P145.3 billion has been earmarked for the 4 Ps and the Unconditional Cash Transfer Program
that would benefit the poor, under the newly signed P4.1-trillion 2020 national budget (Porcalla,
2020). However in 2021, Congress has slashed P7 billion from the government’s pro poor
programs in the 2021 General Appropriations Act (GAA), which was to be realigned to fund
other items, including the P83 billion addition for public works projects, according to its
bicameral conference report on the proposed spending measure (Gascon, 2020).
 The report also indicates that the bicameral panels also slashed P4.877 billion from the
proposed funding for the purchase of vaccines, even as P75.2 billion was lodged under the
“unprogrammed” items. he enrolled bill on the P4.5-trillion proposed budget for 2021, said to be
the biggest in the country’s history, is awaiting the signature of President Rodrigo Duterte. It
has, however, been met with criticism, as it does not meet the budgeting principle espoused by
the executive department of “Reset, Rebuild and Recover,” as a tool for recovery from the
effects of the coronavirus pandemic and a string of natural calamities that hit the country this
year. Sen. Panfilo Lacson, who voted against the ratification of the measure, criticized how the
bicameral committee “mangled” the budget bill to accommodate the requests of lawmakers to
fund their pet projects. He questioned how the Department of Public Works and Highways
(DPWH) was allotted P694.82 billion, after receiving an additional P83.87 billion and a
deduction of P55.52 billion in the bicameral committee report. The DPWH budget posted a net
increase of P28.35 billion, despite the irregularities surrounding public works projects that were
previously cited by (Lacson Gascon, 2020). Among the departments that suffered the biggest
cuts in the bicameral version include the Department of Transportation (P87.45 billion) and the
Department of Education (P11.41 billion). Under the measure, the Department of Social Welfare
and Development (DSWD) is set to receive a total budget of P176.66 billion in the enrolled
version of the 2021 GAA, after it was given P12.61 billion more but cut by P8.94 billion,
according to the report. The bulk of the budget cut involved the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino
Program (4Ps) by P7 billion, from P113.8 billion to P106.8 billion, according to the document. It,
however, introduced a new provision on funding for “rice subsidy,” in the amount of about
P29.35 billion, which allots P600 of monthly financial assistance to all qualified 4Ps
beneficiaries.

As a non – beneficiary of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, I do not have the
first hand account of this program. I do not have a first - person perspective towards this
initiative. But I can testify that I have had classmates in High School and Senior High School
who were beneficiaries of 4 Ps. I am aware that they are being provided of some amount every
month by their Local Government. I am also aware about some but not all the conditions and
qualifications that they need to meet and comply with. I have been friends with them and I know
their situations. I know their lifestyles and I know, to some degree, their situations at home. One
of them actually misses class in school almost weekly because he needed to work.
Subsequently, I asked him if he doesn’t lose out on some of the conditions of the 4 Ps due to his
seemingly regular absences in school. But the thing that stuck with me the most in our
conversations about the program is that, without the financial assistance being provided by 4
Ps, he wouldn’t be able to attend school in the first place