4Ps grants hit 12.2K mark

LAOAG CITY, Ilocos Norte, Mar. 25 — A total of 12, 256 families from Ilocos Norte have received their cash grants under the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) of the Aquino administration.

Provincial Social Welfare and Development officer Lilian Rin said the families who received cash grants were from the 13 towns and a city of the province, namely, Dumalneg, Burgos, Paoay, Banna, Solsona, Dingras, Badoc, Sarrat, Piddig, Vintar, Bacarra, Pagudpud and Laoag City.

The 4Ps is a poverty reduction and social development strategy of the national government through the Department of Social Welfare and Development that provides conditional cash grants to extremely poor households to improve their health, nutrition and education particularly of children aged zero to 14.

Beneficiaries receive P500 a month for health and nutrition expenses and P300 a month per child, with a maximum of three children for educational expenses.

The families are identified under the data base system created by the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction.

“They will receive cash grants under the program for five years. They are monitored and evaluated regularly by our municipal links if they comply with the education, health, family development and nutrition aspects of the program. This is to show that the government is not simply giving dole-outs but actually investing in human capital,” Rin said.

The 4Ps, according to Rin, helps to fulfill the administration’s commitment to meet the Millennium Development Goals namely Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger; Achieve Universal Primary Education; Promote Gender Equality; Reduce Child Mortality; and Improve Maternal Health. (ANL/CPC-PIA1 Ilocos Norte)