BEING a beneficiary of the government's Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) is no one-way ticket out of poverty-land.
In the northeast Cebu town of Compostela, 11-year-old Jayricson Acogido whose family is 4Ps recipient recently went strolling with his friend Prince Azel Pateño. They later stumbled upon a package that could temporarily exile their families from hard times: a pack of money along a street in Barangay Estaca.
The amount was P43,000, and Acogido and Pateño could have split the amount in half. Each of them could have brought home P21,500.
The boys did not split the money. Instead, they turned it over to the barangay authorities.
"Nakit-an namo unahan ra sa among balay ug nakuyawan kami kon unsaon to siya kay wala pa kami nakakita ingon ato kadaghang kwarta," Acogido said in press release published by the Department of Social Welfare and Development Central Visayas (DSWD 7) on Friday, March 18, 2022.
(We found it just near our house and we were anxious about what to do with it because we had never seen such an amount of money before.)
An adult passerby saw them; when he learned the boys found them, he brought them to Estaca Barangay Hall on his motorcycle.
Praises
The boys' act of honesty earned praises from public officials and netizens.
Compostela Mayor Froilan Quiño praised Acogido and Pateño for their honesty, and called them "Mga Batang Bayani (Hero Kids)."
The local executive also recognized the boys' parents for raising them well and the Estaca Integrated School where they are enrolled in for teaching the boys with values.
Acogido and Pateño and their parents met Mayor Quiño last March 10. The meeting was posted on the mayor's Facebook page.
Estaca Barangay Councilor Sidney Boquia also praised the two boys.
"Dakong garbo natong mga Estacanhon sa mga bata nga maghatag og ehimplo natong tanan," Boquia said in his Facebook post.
(We Estacanhons must be proud of these children who are worth emulating for all of us.)
Dream
Returning the money that did not belong to him was the right thing to do, said Acogido, the eldest in a brood of six.
Acogido said he dreams of becoming a police officer someday, saying he wants to help other people.
As a 4Ps child-beneficiary, he hopes to finish his studies as he plans to help his younger siblings, according to the DSWD 7.
The National Government's 4Ps is its human development measure that provides conditional cash grants to the poorest of the poor, to improve the health, nutrition, and the education of children aged 0-18. It is patterned after the conditional cash transfer schemes in Latin American and African countries, which have lifted millions of people around the world from poverty (The Official Gazette).
The DSWD is the lead agency of the Pantawid Pamilya program.