100,000 4Ps beneficiaries delisted due to fraud

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has so far delisted about 100,000 families from the government’s Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) because of anomalies. 

This figure was “accumulated” over the years but has been “purged” by the agency as of December 2023, according to 4Ps national manager Gemma Gabuya.?

“Turning over their ATM (cards) to loan sharks is one act that we are in the process of continuously cleansing, because they can be delisted from the program. It’s prohibited. And we have delisted many already,” she told reporters in a news briefing yesterday. 

“That (pawning) should not be the practice. It’s not the normal thing. But the law has no teeth yet, although we are glad that some local government units have issued ordinances to that effect. That’s why we want this to be included in the law – for it to stop,” she said. 

Gabuya revealed that the challenge for the DSWD is that they have to remove 1.2 million more beneficiaries this year so as to give other qualified families from the vulnerable sector the chance to avail themselves of the 4Ps program.

Of this figure, 200,000 beneficiaries are expected to “graduate” from the conditional cash transfer program this September, Gabuya said.  

She said they will “automatically exit” because these parents have no more children to send to school. 

So far, a total of 339,660 have already graduated from 4Ps.

“They can now stand on their own, financially, socially, economically. They are already self-sufficient. We didn’t abandon them, we took care of them and they’re now ready.”

Gabuya added that there are 4.4 million families comprising 4Ps and about 180,000 are in the “waitlisted” category. 

Those who will “graduate” from 4Ps, according to Gabuya, should also be given livelihoods so that they will be self-sufficient.

She said 4Ps “is not an income, that is why there has to be complementary assistance from other agencies. The funds cannot be used as capital for business, for instance.”