President Duterte to DSWD: Give rice subsidies to poorest families

“I have decided to direct the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to provide rice subsidies to poor families every month para makakain sila (on regular basis),” President Rodrigo R. Duterte said in his maiden SONA during a joint session of the Senate and the House of Representatives. (Photo: Rey Baniquet/PPD)

MANILA – Poorest families in the country will soon have monthly rice subsidies.

“I have decided to direct the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to provide rice subsidies to poor families every month para makakain sila (on regular basis),” President Rodrigo R. Duterte said in his maiden State-of-the-Nation Address during a joint session of the Senate and the House of Representatives in Quezon City on Monday afternoon.

President Duterte said that while their long-term intention is to eventually enable the poor families benefiting from the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) to attain self-sufficiency level, he knows that there is a need to connect the said poor to different forms of assistance that will empower and sustain them once they attain the level of self-sufficiency or be identified to be graduates from the program.

The poor families identified under the “Listahanan” (Talaan ng Listahan ng Mahihirap na Pamilya), formerly called National Household Targetting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR), are receiving assistance from the government through the 4Ps being implemented by DSWD.

The assistance is in the form of monthly cash grants as an investment on the health and education of poor children.

The cash grant is PHP500 for every household beneficiary plus educational assistance of PHP300 (elementary) or PHP500 (high school) each for a maximum of three children.

The ultimate goal of 4Ps is to allow the children to graduate or finish high school so that they can be the ones who will help their families to pass the bridge of poverty.

The programs believe that children who are given investment on health and education can be able to gain employment and not become school dropouts wherein the promise of better future can be seen.

President Duterte said that his administration wants to intensify efforts in reducing or eliminating poverty in the country.