MANILA, Oct. 14 — The National Government’s flagship poverty alleviation program, the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), will have a budget allocation of P62.7 billion in the proposed 2016 National Budget to broaden its coverage and include high school students to help more indigent families.
Budget Secretary Florencio ‘Butch’ Abad said the 4Ps must not only be sustained, but also widened, given that it is one of the most important and effective programs of the National Government that put resources in the hands of the poor and allow them to manage risks.
“Programs that protect the poor cannot be left underfunded. We will be able to further reduce the vulnerability of indigent families if we help them keep their children in school all the way to high school, as well as provide opportunities for employment and livelihood,” Abad said in the wake of the approval of Congress of the 2016 General Appropriations Bill after a marathon deliberation last week.
As the lead implementing agency of the 4Ps, the Department of Welfare and Social Development (DSWD) will get the sixth highest fund allocation among the several departments in the 2016 National Expenditure Program (NEP). Of the agency’s budget of P104.2 billion, P62.7 billion is allocated for the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) program, also known as the 4Ps.
Of the amount allocated for the CCT program, P59.4 billion will benefit 4.4 million poor households registered under the regular CCT program. The remaining P3.3 billion will cover 218,377 beneficiary households under the Modified CCT program. These beneficiaries range from itinerant families, homeless street families, and families in need of special protection due to man-made and natural disasters.
Because a number of the households are set to graduate from the CCT program, the Sustainable Livelihood Program will double its budget with P9.6 billion to help a targeted 170,470 families move from subsistence to self-sufficiency through micro-enterprise subsidies. The program will benefit 208,352 beneficiaries with skills and technical-vocational training to prepare them for future jobs.
Meanwhile, to increase communities’ access and participation in local planning, budgeting, and program implementation, the Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (KALAHI-CIDSS) National Community-Driven Development Program will get P10.9 billion to empower 13,357 barangays in 627 municipalities across 58 provinces.
Likewise, the DSWD budget is set to implement the provision of the senior citizens’ law—Republic Act No. 9994, or the Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010—mandating a P500-monthly pension for all indigent senior citizens nationwide. With a budgetary allocation of P7.5 billion, this pension program will target 1,182,941 senior citizens aged 60 years old and above.
The DSWD will also increase the budget of their Supplementary Feeding Program with an allocated P693 million, for a total budgetary support of P4.05 billion. This amount will help feed 2,150,621 day care children with nutritious meals.
Lastly, the DSWD budget will provide budgetary support amounting to P129 million for the update of the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR or the Listahanan), in the wake of the extensive destruction brought about by Typhoon Yolanda. (DBM)
