Navotas boy gets DSWD aid, accolade

YOUNG ACHIEVER 4Ps ‘model child’ Angelo Urbano Caigas addresses DSWD personnel during Monday’s flag ceremony. DSWD photo

MANILA, Philippines—An exceptional 12-year-old pupil from Navotas City is this year’s poster boy of one of the government’s poverty-alleviation programs in Metro Manila.

For being a consistent honor student and campus leader despite his family’s daily struggles, Angelo Urbano Caigas was named “Model Child” of the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) in the National Capital Region.

“I really value my education. My family’s poverty is never a hindrance to my desire to make good in my studies,” said Caigas, a 4Ps beneficiary who was presented the award on Monday at the DSWD main office in Quezon City.

The agency particularly noted the boy’s achievements at Bungkalasi Elementary School in Navotas, where he is the current president of the Supreme Pupil Government, commander of Batang Emergency Response Team, and vice president of the Science Club.

Angelo is the third in a brood of four, with a 3-year-old-sister and two other siblings aged 21 and 19. He and his younger sister have been 4Ps beneficiaries since 2012.

Under the program, the family receives a P500 monthly cash grant for their health-related needs and P300 per child for their education and proper nutrition.

In exchange, the parents are required to send the young children to school, bring them to health centers for regular checkups and attend family development sessions.

Caigas’ mother Marites earns a living selling street food while his father Ernesto is a barangay tanod (village watchman) who occasionally earns extra by repairing appliances and going out to sea with the local fishermen, according to DSWD information officer Michela Cruz. She makes about P100 to P150 daily, while he gets paid P2,000 a month as a tanod.

According to Marites, her son, who aspires to be a teacher, has always shown determination in his studies. “When he was still a small child, he used to tell me that he likes to go up onstage and accept awards and medals,” she recalled.

One such moment came Monday morning when Caigas was the special guest at the DSWD’s flag ceremony. The award automatically made him a finalist in the nationwide search for the 4Ps Model Child.

Today, 4,321,250 households around the country are enrolled in the program, the DSWD said.