LUNA APAYAO – “Naming it 4Ps, why should we not call it Pantawid Pamilya instead?,” suggested Ms. Helen Manongyao, Social Welfare Officer III, DSWD-CAR, in an interview aired in a program of a community radio station in Apayao, pertaining to the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps).
Although the name 4Ps is the government version of the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) which is widely practiced in other countries has not changed, Pantawid Pamilya is just but proper to use in order to wipe away negative connotations of the said term.
“As of April 2015, there has been an increase in number of beneficiaries in the province with a total of 8, 097 originally from 8,002 in January 2015 and 7,600 in 2014,” Manongyao confirmed.
As per municipalities, Calanasan has the least number of grantees totalling to 632 while Conner has the highest number with a total of 1,662. Flora has 1,254 grantees, Kabugao has 1,267, 1,223 in Luna, 871 in Sta Marcela and 1,188 in Pudtol.
These figures show a 97% beneficiaries’ compliance rate, through the Compliance Verification System (CVS) and appears to be still within the baseline in terms of adherence to the conditions of the program such as the Family Development Sessions (FDS), health and nutrition and education.
These beneficiaries went through the selection process based from the 2008-2009 survey conducted by the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR)—a database system of the DSWD which identifies who the poor are.
The government is giving a cash assistance of P500 to a family to make sure that pregnant mothers visit the health centers regularly and an amount of P300 for every child of a family to make sure that their children will be enrolled in school during the duration of their enrolment to the program and until such time that they graduate from high school.
Furthermore, parents must also attend the family development sessions organized by the social welfare department in order to sustain t6heir participation to community development activities geared towards improving their living condition in the barangays.
By JAYLORD AGPULDO
