House minority rejects call to scrap 4Ps

MANILA, Philippines — House Minority Leader and 4Ps party-list Rep. Marcelino Libanan disagreed with Sen. Erwin Tulfo’s proposal to abolish the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, or 4Ps, emphasizing that the conditional cash transfer (CCT) is not equivalent to handouts.

“The 4Ps has consistently proven to be a powerful tool for building human capital – encouraging school attendance, promoting preventive health care and ensuring better nutrition for children,” Libanan said.

“The program works. We just need to give our poorest families a stronger push so they can stand on their own permanently,” he added.

Libanan and fellow 4Ps party-list Rep. JC Abalos have declared that the 4Ps has long been proven effective in reducing poverty and improving health and education outcomes in disadvantaged communities.

Tulfo wants the 4Ps program replaced with a one-time livelihood program for the country’s most vulnerable sector.

Libanan emphasized that the 4Ps cash grants are incentives tied to conditions such as keeping children in school, undergoing regular health check-ups, and attending family development sessions.

At the same time, Speaker Martin Romualdez expressed full support for the partnership between the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) in providing scholarships and skills training to 4Ps beneficiaries.

Romualdez hailed the joint program as a concrete demonstration of President Marcos’ commitment to uplifting the lives of poor Filipino families through targeted, skill-based development initiatives.

“This joint initiative of the DSWD and TESDA is a tangible manifestation of the administration’s unrelenting effort to accelerate our fight against poverty. The House is committed to supporting laudable programs that give our people the tools to free themselves from the clutch of poverty,” he said.

Last week, the DSWD and TESDA signed a memorandum of agreement to strengthen convergence efforts for households that have exited the 4Ps and are transitioning out of the CCT program.

The World Bank has been a long-time financial partner of the 4Ps in the Philippines, as well as similar CCT programs in Latin America, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and East Asia.

A total of P64.2 billion have been set aside for the 4Ps in the 2025 General Appropriations Law, benefiting millions of poor families.

In his fourth State of the Nation Address last July 28, President Marcos reported that over five million households have received 4Ps cash grants since he took office, with 1.5 million families “graduating” from poverty.

World Bank studies have shown that CCT programs effectively reach the poorest and most vulnerable sectors.

CCTs have two key objectives: to provide immediate income support and alleviate poverty, and to eventually break the intergenerational cycle of poverty by investing in human capital.