DSWD to exclude about 900K ‘undeserving’ 4Ps beneficiaries

By Edward Era Barbacena

Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Erwin Tulfo said that close to one million “undeserving” beneficiaries will be removed in the agency’s “Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program” or 4Ps.

In a radio interview on Saturday, July 9, Tulfo said that he was instructed by President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. during the recent Cabinet meeting to weed out unqualified beneficiaries of the said government cash assistance program.

“So far, may identified na po kami. Halos…malaki-laki po ang mababawas 4.4 [million] po ngayon ang tumatanggap ng 4Ps ngayon out of the 15 million na Filipino na nasa below poverty line. Babawasan po natin ng mga 900,000—hindi po sila deserving na (we have already identified. Almost…a huge chunk will be removed. There are 4.4 [million] who are receiving 4Ps out of the 15 million Filipinos [who lived] below the poverty line. We will be removing around 900,000 because they are no longer deserving),” said Tulfo.

“I think mga 900,000, halos isang million ang mawawala po sa 4Ps natin—maaaring next month, ngayong August (I think it’s about 900,000, almost a million will be removed in the 4Ps — maybe next month, this August),” he added.

Tulfo said he asked Marcos to give him at least three to five months to clean the list of 4Ps beneficiaries.

“Magtatayo po ako ng hotline at Facebook page kung saan magrereklamo ang mga tao—na kapitbahay nila na hindi deserving pero tumatanggap. Doon po sila pwedeng magreklamo (I will set up a hotline and Facebook page where people can report their neighbors who are not deserving but are receiving [this cash assistance]. That’s where they can file a report),” he said.

The 4Ps program is a “poverty reduction strategy that provides grants to extremely poor households to improve their health, nutrition and education particularly of children aged zero to 14,” the DSWD said.

“4Ps provides conditional grants to the beneficiaries such as: P6,000 a year or P500 per month per household for health and nutrition expenses, and P3,000 for one school year or 10 months or [P]300 per month per child for educational expenses. A maximum of three children per household is allowed,” the DSWD said.