SAN JOSE, Antique – Validation of 6,234 household beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) in Antique is ongoing for possible “graduation” or exit from the program.
Jeffrey Gabucay, Antique 4Ps Provincial Link, said the validation, which started July 1, is being done among beneficiary-households of the program since 2009.
The 4Ps provides conditional cash grants to the poorest of the poor, to improve the health, nutrition, and the education of children aged 0-18.
A total of 28,611 households are benefitting from the program in Antique.
“Our new Department of Social Welfare and Development secretary (Secretary Erwin Tulfo), during his meeting with the directors last week, gave instructions to intensify the validation of the households to find out if they already had improved well-being and could exit from the program,” Gabucay said.
“Pantawid household beneficiaries then had been availing of cash grants for the educational and health needs of their children and so prior to their graduation there will still be case management to ensure that they could receive other interventions and not backslide,” he added.
A case study is necessary to find out what other needs the beneficiaries still have so that they could be referred to local government units or other national government agencies like the Technical Education Skills and Development Authority for skills training.
To receive 4Ps subsidies, all the succeeding conditions must be met by the household-beneficiaries:
* Pregnant women must avail pre- and post-natal care, and be attended during childbirth by a trained professional
* Parents or guardians must attend the family development sessions, which include topics on responsible parenting, health, and nutrition
* Children aged 0-5 must receive regular preventive health check-ups and vaccines
* Children aged 6-14 must receive deworming pills twice a year
* Children-beneficiaries aged 3-18 must enroll in school, and maintain an attendance of at least 85% of class days every month.
So far, Gabucay said, 17 households in Antique “graduated” from the 4Ps due to their improved level of well-being or are now self-sufficient.
Households in Anini-y were the first graduates in Western Visayas on March 26, 2021.
Gabucay said to date, 4,815 households in Antique have exited from the program without a child aged zero to 18 eligible for monitoring anymore. (PNA/PN)
