The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) announced that over 400,000 waitlisted households are now validated as eligible for the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), pending the exit of families currently in the program.
This change follows a July 2023 directive by DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian, who initiated a re-assessment of 4Ps beneficiaries marked as “non-poor” by Listahanan 3, the official database for household poverty classification. The re-assessment led to the reinstatement of over 700,000 beneficiaries previously deemed ineligible.
According to Gemma Gabuya, DSWD’s national 4Ps director, the program aims to help households achieve a sustainable exit, as required by Republic Act (RA) 11310, which mandates households leave the program once their youngest monitored child turns 19. Currently, the DSWD is helping households without eligible children in school to “graduate” from the program.
DSWD’s next step involves validating over one million households as potential 4Ps beneficiaries. To qualify, households must have children aged 0 to 18 or a pregnant family member and must be willing to meet the program’s compliance requirements. This conditional cash transfer program provides support in health, education, and food, aiming to improve child development and reduce poverty.
Since its launch in 2008 and subsequent institutionalization in 2019 under RA 11310, 4Ps has served as a crucial poverty reduction initiative, reaching over four million households across the Philippines.
