INCLUSION IN SAP. Iloilo 3rd District Board Member Matt Palabrica on Wednesday (May 6, 2020) pushes for the inclusion of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) roster in the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) social amelioration program (SAP). He said the DSWD used 11-year-old data, which no longer reflects the present situation of the 4Ps beneficiaries. (Photo courtesy of Paul Brian Amar)
ILOILO CITY – A member of Iloilo’s Provincial Board is pushing for the inclusion of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) roster in the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) social amelioration program (SAP).
During the Board’s regular session on Tuesday, Iloilo 3rd District Board Member Matt Palabrica passed a resolution for the DSWD 6 (Western Visayas) and other concerned agencies to reconsider the eligibility of 4Ps roster for SAP.
“I found out that those members of the household roster of 4Ps were excluded in the SAP. For example, if a mother is a parent of a 4Ps beneficiary, all of the siblings cannot avail of the SAP,” he told the Philippine News Agency (PNA) on Wednesday.
Palabrica said the basis of eligibility for a family to qualify for SAP is the Household Roster for 4Ps Beneficiaries based on the 2009 Social Welfare Indicator (SWDI).
The basis of the DSWD no longer reflects the current data and the present situation, he said.
“The data was 11 years ago and if you are included in the 2009 indicator, you are automatically disqualified. That was 11 years ago and some of the members of the household roster of 4Ps have already their own family to feed,” Palabrica said.
He said the DSWD already conducted the SWDI survey from 2018 to 2019 but the data were not yet encoded.
Iloilo province has a SAP allocation of PHP2.3 billion for 389,838 beneficiaries.
Each household beneficiary is entitled to PHP6,000 in monthly cash assistance from the government for two months.
The 4Ps beneficiaries have a separate process of claiming their assistance. Based on DSWD guidelines, the 4Ps households can receive their SAP aid as a top-up of their regular 4Ps grant.
“The province has 81,594 4Ps beneficiaries, if computed to at least three household members per beneficiary, there are at least 244,782 households neglected or left out with the PHP6,000 SAP,” he said.
Palabrica said he hopes that the DSWD and other concerned agencies would consider his resolution.
He noted that 43 local government units in the province were provided with the resolution for the municipal level to answer the concerns of the locals excluded in the SAP. (PNA)
