3,000 Capiz’ families to avail of 4Ps
ROXAS CITY – Six towns in Capiz are expected to avail of the government’s Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) this year.
Information Officer Eliseo Abucay of the Department of Social Welfare and Development Field Office 6 based in Capiz disclosed that the Capiz has already been included in the Club 40 provinces for the implementation of said program.
Abucay said that a total of 3,000 families from the six towns with 500 families per town here will benefit from the national government’s anti-poverty reduction program under the administration of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
He revealed that included in said beneficiary municipalities are Tapaz, Jamindan, Pilar, President Roxas, Maayon and Panay.
The 4Ps is a poverty reduction strategy that provides grants to extremely poor households to improve their health, nutrition and education particularly of children aged 0-14.
It aims to provide monetary aid to poor beneficiaries with the hope that these investments in human capital would lessen the great financial divide among the haves and the have nots.
It is the Filipino version of the World Bank-funded Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) Program where poor families receive cash provided their children regularly goes to public school, visits the health center for regular medical checkups and treatments.
Conceiving mothers also receive financial grants provided they regularly undergo medical checkups and standard pregnancy treatments.
Under the program, a household-beneficiary can receive as much as P1,400 monthly which includes P500 per month for nutrition and health expenses and P300 per month per child (with a maximum of 3 children per household) for educational expenses.
Household-beneficiaries must comply with certain conditions to continue receiving the cash grants, which could go on for a maximum of five years.
On the other hand, Abucay stressed that the beneficiaries must also comply with the conditions under said program, which includes that parents must ensure that their children attend school at least 85% of the time, and receive vaccinations and health care, pregnant women must receive pre- and post-natal care and be attended during childbirth by a skilled health professional.
Parents must attend responsible parenthood seminars, mother’s classes, and parent effectiveness seminars. (PIA/Jemin B. Guillermo)
