MANILA, Philippines – Sen. Ralph Recto wants a law passed to put in place the anti-poverty Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program or 4Ps to ensure its continued implementation under future administrations.
“We are witness to how good programs in the past were jettisoned when the new order came along,” he said.
Recto said the 4Ps, also known as conditional cash transfer (CCT), must have a charter so it can continue despite scheduled changes in the national leadership.
“What we can’t predict is that those who are swept to power will not immediately sweep away good programs,” he said.
“In the case of the CCT, two tendencies must be avoided. The first is to emasculate it that it becomes ineffective. The other is to expand it tremendously that it becomes financially unsustainable.”
The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) administers the 4Ps program, which was started during the presidency of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman has asked President Aquino for support to institutionalize CCT for poor households to continue to enjoy better education and health outcomes for an improved quality of life.
She cited impact evaluations done on the program in 2012 and 2014, which showed how the program can break intergenerational cycle of poverty.
“It closed 1/4th of the poor’s income gap, thus enabling (them) to move closer to the minimum income level required to transcend poverty,” she said.