Some 101 families in Maasin City, Southern Leyte have graduated from the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) as they conquered poverty after a decade of receiving grants from the national government.
The Maasin City government and the Department of Social Welfare and Development held a ceremony on Tuesday recognizing the families who managed to improve their economic status.
“We are making sure that there are prepared programs and services for household graduates so that they will not return to poverty,” said Maasin City Mayor Nacional Mercado during the ceremony at the city hall grounds.
The local government will tie up with various national government agencies to help provide support to these families in terms of health, education, skills training, and livelihood of 4Ps graduates.
The mayor congratulated these families for using the cash grants from DSWD to improve their lives in the past 10 years.
After a thorough assessment, it has been ascertained that these families can now meet their basic needs such as food, education, housing, and clothing.
In a statement on Wednesday, DSWD Eastern Visayas regional director Grace Subong urged other 4Ps recipients to draw inspiration from graduates.
“The goal of 4Ps is to bring poor households to a better standard of living. May this day serve as an inspiration and challenge to continuously aim for self-sufficiency with the help of various government programs,” Subong said.
Led by the DSWD, the 4Ps is a poverty reduction strategy of the national government.
Household beneficiaries are entitled to receive cash subsidies provided they meet the conditions on health, nutrition, and education.
The conditional cash transfer is given under the following scheme: PHP300 per month for a child in kindergarten and elementary school for a maximum of 10 months per year; PHP500 per month for 10 months for a child enrolled in junior high school; PHP700 per month for 10 months for every child enrolled in senior high school and a health and nutrition grant of PHP750 per month for 12 months per year.
The government can only provide for the needs of a maximum of three children for each family. (PNA)
