CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – At least 5,412 households in the Northern Mindanao Region have “graduated” from the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) during the past several years.
In an interview Friday, Oliver Inodeo, focal person for 4Ps in the region, said that from the initial registration of around 268,000 households, the number of 4Ps beneficiaries went down to 262,588 as of July 1 this year.
“This (number who graduated) includes not only those who have finished the (seven-year) program but also those who transferred to different regions,” he said.
Inodeo said the program caters to poor families with an average of three to five members.
With the new directives issued by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD Secretary Erwin Tulfo, he said 4Ps will be more transparent in the selection process of new beneficiaries.
“We have been transparent and accountable (since the previous administrations of different presidents), we have grievance desks should beneficiaries file a complaint,” Inodeo said.
“Non-poor”
Meanwhile, DSWD-Northern Mindanao Director Mari-flor Dollaga said about 67,704 individual beneficiaries of the 4Ps have already been considered as “non-poor” in the region.
“This means that the program of the government has been effective. For the reason that when 4Ps intervened in the lives of the beneficiaries, they have been assisted properly,” Dollaga said.
Dollaga said those considered non-poor need to be removed from the list as the primary objective of 4Ps is for them to get through poverty.
Kenneth Haze Sanchez Lustre, the 4Ps regional project coordinator, said beneficiaries who will graduate will be informed by the DSWD through their family development sessions.
Luster said some 60,000 beneficiaries will be delisted due to inactive participation.
Under the 4Ps, beneficiaries should comply with certain conditions to avail of cash grants.
Lustre said the new “Listahanan” may be released by September and the DSWD-10, specifically the 4Ps department, would be the assigned office to filter the list to identify who would be included in the program as beneficiaries.
Listahanan is the national targeting system of the national government that identifies poor households after an enumeration every three years. (PNA)
