Imee Marcos sees need to revisit DSWD’s 4Ps

LEVELING UP DSWD’S 4PS: Sen. Imee Marcos presides over the hybrid briefing of Finance Subcommittee I Wednesday, October 12, 2022, on the proposed budget of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and attached agencies for 2023. Marcos proposed that the agency should level up its Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program or “4Ps” which is the agency’s top program in terms of allocation.  (Bibo Nueva España/Senate PRIB)

MANILA, Philippines — It is time to revisit the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), Senator Imee Marcos said on Wednesday.

Marcos made the remark during the Senate finance subcommittee hearing, which tackled the 2023 budgets of the DSWD and its attached agencies.

“I think it’s time we revisit the 4Ps seriously because the government has spent so much and so far, the only proven fact is that it helps in transient or short-term poverty but has not actually established itself as a pathway out of poverty,” Marcos, who presided over the sub-panel hearing, said.

Social Welfare Secretary Erwin Tulfo agreed with the senator.

“I agree with you that it is high time that we have to revisit ito pong 4Ps na batas po natin (our 4Ps law),” he said.

Meanwhile, Senator JV Ejercito urged the DSWD to safeguard the implementation of the 4Ps payout, as there are reports of local chief executives who split the aid to the beneficiaries.

“Alam niyo naman na may iba diyan na talagang mahusay. D’un sa mga beneficiaries, kalahati lang po ang binibigay ‘di ba? ‘Yung kalahati, hindi binibigay. So those are the things, probably if we can have safeguard on things like those kasi nakakaawa,” Ejercito said.

(You know some leaders do not give the aid in full. So those are the things, probably if we can safeguard things like those because they suffer.)

Earlier, the DSWD said that some 850,000 households would be removed from the 4Ps list as they are already “non-poor.”

Help indigenous people

Meanwhile, Senator Robin Padilla urged the DSWD and the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples to put an end to indigenous peoples’ (IP) annual “begging,” especially as Christmas approaches.

Padilla raised that it is time to provide priority long-term livelihood aid for Badjaos and other IPs forced to seek opportunities in the metro.

“Tuwing dadating ang Kapaskuhan, nakikita po natin ang ating mga katutubo sa iba’t ibang kalsada kasama ang kanilang mga anak lalo ang mga kapatid kong Badjao… Kukunin sila, tapos ibabalik sa lugar nila, babalik din sila dito,” Padilla said.

(When Christmas time approaches, we see IPs like our Badjao brethren on the streets with their children. Of course, our authorities would rescue them from the streets and send them to their home provinces, but they will keep coming back.)

“Meron pong mga programa ang DSWD tulad ng livelihood program. Ito ang sa akin lang mapaglarong isip. Pwede po kaya na turuan na lang sila kung paano mamasko nang hindi delikado, parang gawin ba nating livelihood ‘yan?

(Our DSWD has livelihood programs. My suggestion: Can we teach them to earn a living without having to risk their lives?)

Tulfo said that the DSWD has programs such as the Balik Probinsya to assist IPs in returning to their home provinces. Trisha Manalaysay, INQUIRER.net trainee

JPV