THE national government has several dole distribution programs for the poor, workers, students and other sectors of Philippine society that sometimes it is hard to distinguish one from the other.
One of the more popular of these cash assistance programs is the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program or 4Ps which is a human development measure nationwide that provides conditional cash grants to the poorest of the poor to improve the health, nutrition, and education of children aged 0-18.
With the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) as the lead agency implementing this program, the 4Ps has two components: social assistance or giving monetary support to extremely poor families to respond to their immediate needs, and social development which means breaking the intergenerational poverty cycle by investing in the health and education of poor children.
‘While the objective might be lofty, the implementation of these dole distribution programs should be monitored, reviewed and studied as to their direct impact on poverty alleviation.’
While the Pantawid program has conditions that have to be met by beneficiaries, the DSWD under the Marcos administration has another program — the Targeted Cash Transfer (TCT) which gives out doles without any conditions or requirements.
The TCT Program grants unconditional cash transfers of P500 per month to the most affected households for six months to mitigate the effects of the increase in the prices of fuel and other non-fuel commodities on vulnerable populations.
Last Tuesday, the Department of Budget and Management announced it has released P5.2 billion to cover the one-month requirement of the TCT program. Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman has approved the release of the Special Allotment Release Order amounting to P5.2 billion to the DSWD on Nov. 17, 2022.
The DBM said the amount released seeks to cover part of the third tranche of the TCT program, benefiting around 9.8 million identified beneficiaries. Pangandaman said the department acted in pursuance of President Marcos’ “marching order not to neglect those in dire need.”
The DBM said it has previously released a total amount of P10.33 billion to the DSWD covering two months of cash transfers for 10 million target household beneficiaries.
While there are funds available, it behooves the government to really help the poor make both ends meet. While the objective might be lofty, the implementation of these dole distribution programs should be monitored, reviewed and studied as to their direct impact on poverty alleviation. The programs have been running for several years now but the DSWD, when asked by senators recently, could not produce concrete data on how these activities have lifted Filipinos from poverty, and how many these lucky citizens are.
