23 Cebu City barangays benefit from DSWD’s 4Ps

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

GAMBLING versus uplifting family life.

Easy to choose a better family life, but some people are still susceptible to the seduction of gambling.

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But overall, the national initiative Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) is a success, according to the report sent to the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef).

Spearheaded by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), 4Ps is a poverty alleviation program that provides families with monthly compensation of P500 for health and P300 for the education of every child below 14 years old, for a maximum of three children per family.

Grace Ann Quiao is a 31-year-old college dropout from Barangay Inayawan and is a mother of six children.

As a dropout, she had been rejected from one job to another, and she realized she did not want her kids to follow in her footsteps but she knows that education, even in public schools, entails money.

“The difficulties I went through because I dropped out from school are not easy and this is my inspiration so that I will try my best that my kids will continue schooling,” Quiao told DSWD 7 Public Relations Officer Aileen Lariba.

Barangay Inayawan is just one of the 23 barangays that have benefited from the 4Ps.

In Barangay Sudlon I, Rosalie Ecoñas said experiences increase as her eight children grow older.

Her husband Joseph, a carpenter, only earns P700 – P1,000 every week.

“I used to tell my elder children that maybe they cannot finish their education because we cannot cope with the daily expenses... But with the PPPP of DSWD, we looked at education in a different way,” she said.

A family can earn up to P1,400 a month as additional allowance.

But with money that is not earned comes the abuse through misuse of the grants.

According to the report prepared by Niceforo Iroy of the Cebu City Planning and Development Office and the social policy coordinator of Unicef, among identified misuse of grants are gambling and as start-up capital for a business.

“While the second one is nobler in intention than the first, but because the grant has a purpose other than making use of it in order to start a business, then such is a categorical violation of the purpose of the cash transfer,” the report read.

Because of this, monitoring grants has been enhanced.

In Cebu City, there are focal persons that have been asked to report those that are not using the grants properly.

These focal persons are also asked to conduct monthly meetings to monitor the use of grants and to help the families so that they will not lose the grants.

They will also follow up compliance of health and school requirements.

The report stated that in the area of education, the program is viewed as helpful but there are still some beneficiaries who failed to attend meetings, and so it was decided that a formal Parents-Teachers Association should be formed.