DSWD warns 4Ps beneficiaries who pawn ‘cash cards’

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DAGUPAN CITY – The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DWSD) Field Office 1 warned the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) beneficiaries of possible expulsion from the program who pawn their cash cards in order to borrow money from lenders.

According to DSWD Field Office 1 information officer on 4Ps Jaesem Ryan Gaces, those who will be found guilty of pawning their cash cards can be delisted from the rolls of program beneficiaries.

“The pawning of cash card is very rampant because sometimes the cash grant comes late and the beneficiaries needed money,” said Gaces.

However, Gaces was quick to add that those doing this will be subjected to investigation and if proven guilty, cash cards will be retrieved and beneficiaries will instead get their grants from the DSWD offices.

He further said that repetition of the same act might result to more serious punishment of being delisted from the program.

Meanwhile, Gaces reminded the beneficiaries of the various conditions to continue receiving grants from the program including the children’s at least 85 percent attendance in their respective schools.

The other requirements for the household-beneficiaries are: 1. pregnant women must avail pre- and post-natal care, and be attended during childbirth by a trained professional; 2. parents or guardians must attend the family development sessions, which include topics on responsible parenting, health, and nutrition; 3. children aged 0-5 must receive regular preventive health check-ups and vaccines; and 4. children aged 6-14 must receive deworming pills twice a year.

The DWSD Field Office based in San Fernando, La Union is catering to a total of 199,807 4Ps beneficiaries all over Region 1.

The 4Ps, based on information on the DSWD website, is a human development measure of the national government 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 (CCT) schemes in Latin American and African countries, which have lifted millions of people around the world from poverty.

The program has two types of cash grants that are given out to household-beneficiaries: health grant: PHP500 per household every month, or a total of PHP6,000 every year and education grant: PHP300 per child every month for ten months, or a total of PHP3,000 every year (a household may register a maximum of three children for the program)

For a household with three children, a household may receive PHP1,400 every month, or a total of PHP15,000 every year for five years, from the two types of cash grants given to them.

These cash grants are distributed to the household-beneficiaries through the Land Bank of the Philippines or, if not feasible, through alternate payment schemes such as Globe G-Cash remittance and rural bank transactions.

As of August 2015, a total of PHP27.15 billion cash grants were paid to eligible and compliant beneficiaries for the first to third period of 2015 covering January to August disbursements. From this amount, PHP13.23 billion was paid for education, and the remaining PHP13.92 billion was disbursed for health.

Meanwhile, the DSWD Field Office 1 has 85,185 senior citizen social pensioners who receive PHP1,500 stipend every three months.