LEGAZPI CITY — The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) regional office here has temporarily suspended conditions of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) to help families affected by Tropical Depression (TD) Usman last December.
Arnel Garcia, DSWD regional director, in an interview on Tuesday, said in times of calamity, DSWD suspends the conditions of the program to allow “the beneficiaries to receive their cash grants in full (100 percent) from the months of December 2018 until January 2019”.
“Even if they (beneficiaries) are unable to comply with all the conditions of the program on the said months, they will still receive their cash grants without deductions as a way to aid the families from the onslaught of TD Usman,” he added.
DSWD’s 4Ps record shows a total of 226,428 household beneficiaries in four provinces of Bicol region will benefit from the suspension of 4Ps conditions.
The figure is broken down as follows: Albay — 73,570 affected households; Camarines Norte — 31,361 households; Camarines Sur — 106,192 households; and Sorsogon — 15,305 households.
The 4Ps is a human development measure of the national government providing conditional cash grants to poor families to improve the health, nutrition and education of children aged 0-18.
Under the program, a beneficiary family receives a monthly health grant of PHP500 (total of PHP6,000/year); an education grant of PHP300 per child per month in Elementary or PHP500 per child per month in High School (total of PHP3,000in Elementary or PHP5,000 in High School per child per year).
For every household, a maximum of three children is allowed to benefit from the program.
Aside from the monetary assistance, the family also receives PHP600 worth of rice subsidy per month.
In order to receive the cash grants, the conditions set by the program are: availing pre and post-natal care for pregnant women, parents must attend Family Development Session, children aged 0-5 must receive regular preventive health check-ups and vaccines, children aged 6-14 must receive deworming pills twice a year and children aged 3-18 should have 85 percent attendance in school.
Meanwhile, DSWD has so far provided a total of PHP29.2 million worth of assistance including family food packs, malong, blankets, tents, family kits, kitchen, and dignity, sleeping and hygiene kits to families housed in evacuations centers or individuals affected by flood and landslides caused by TD Usman.
