ILOILO City – A total of 74,795 households in Western Visayas are now out of the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) as of March 31.
According to DSWD Region 6, of this number, 43,937 households were marked as “exited”, while 30,858 were considered “graduated” from the program.
The 4Ps program provides conditional cash grants to extremely poor households to improve the health, nutrition, and education of children aged 0 to 18.
“By graduation, we mean they have breached the self-sufficient level of well-being or Level 2 or Level 3 and that is P30,850 per month of income,” said Belen Gebusion, 4Ps Division Chief of DSWD-6.
On the other hand, “exit” refers to households that have been delisted or deactivated due to “natural attrition,” meaning they no longer have children aged 0-18 for monitoring, nor do they have a pregnant household member.
Others were removed from the program for failing to meet the conditions, including those deemed non-compliant or repeatedly violating 4Ps guidelines.
“So, overall we have accounted 43,937 households but most if not all of them [exited] due to natural attrition… regardless of the status of their well-being, automatically naga-out [sila] kay we need to be reminded nga one of the eligibility sang 4Ps for them to be included sa program is they should [have] member of the household aged nga zero to 18 years or pregnant during the validation naton,” Gebusion added.
To remain in the 4Ps, beneficiaries must meet all of the following conditions:
* Pregnant women must receive pre- and post-natal care and be attended during childbirth by a trained professional.
* Parents or guardians must attend Family Development Sessions on parenting, health, and nutrition.
* Children aged 0–5 must undergo regular health check-ups and immunizations.
* Children aged 6–14 must take deworming pills twice a year.
* Children aged 3–18 must be enrolled in school and maintain at least 85% monthly attendance.
Below is the breakdown of the 74,795 households now out of 4Ps by province:
* Aklan – 10,507
* Antique – 12,812
* Capiz – 16,347
* Guimaras – 2,949
* Iloilo – 32,180
Graduated Households (30,858 total):
* Aklan – 3,319
* Antique – 5,895
* Capiz – 7,292
* Guimaras – 1,304
* Iloilo – 13,048
Exited Households (43,937 total):
* Aklan – 7,188
* Antique – 6,917
* Capiz – 9,055
* Guimaras – 1,645
* Iloilo – 19,132
Currently, DSWD-6 is serving 196,488 active 4Ps household-beneficiaries across the region:
* Aklan – 26,418
* Antique – 27,406
* Capiz – 33,729
* Guimaras – 8,168
* Iloilo – 100,747
Gebusion noted that the decrease in active beneficiaries from last year’s 362,000 is due to the exclusion of Negros Occidental from the region’s coverage this year./PN
