NEARLY 900,000 households or 4.3 million Filipinos who are among the “poorest of the poor” did not receive cash grants totaling P13 billion from the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) last year after Senator Imee Marcos redirected these funds to another social amelioration program, Ako Bicol Rep. Jil Bongalon said yesterday.

In a statement, Bongalon claimed that the P13-billion budget cut in the 2023 budget at the behest of Sen. Marcos deprived 4Ps beneficiaries of critical support, as funds intended for them were diverted to the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations (AICS) program.

“If we do the math, P13 billion divided by P15,000 per household per year, means 867,000 families or 4.3 million poor individuals got zero cash assistance from the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s 4Ps program last year, thanks to Sen. Imee,” he explained.

Bongalon, a key advocate of the 4Ps program which provides conditional cash grants to the most impoverished families to improve health, nutrition, and education of children aged 0-18, said the budget realignment is cruel and unconscionable.

The party-list solon said he began inquiring about the budget cuts after his office received numerous complaints from 4Ps beneficiaries. Some criticized delays in aid distribution while others complained of not receiving cash grants last year, he said.

“As vice chair of the Committee on Appropriations, I learned that it was Sen. Marcos – as head of the Senate finance sub-committee in charge of DSWD’s budget – who slashed P13-billion from the 4Ps budget. This left the most vulnerable sectors without financial aid last year, possibly until the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) receives its 2024 budget,” he said.

By tinkering with the 4Ps budget, Bongalon said the reallocation allowed Sen. Marcos and select political allies like Vice President Sara Duterte to distribute aid to their chosen beneficiaries instead of the real intended recipients of the 4Ps program.

He said the P13-billion budget realignment is just the ‘tip of the iceberg’.

“I understand that Sen. Imee has been realigning significant portions of the 4Ps budget every year since 2021 but we’re still compiling the data,” he said.

“Sen. Imee takes issue with AKAP or Ayuda para sa Kapos ang Kita Program of the House of Representatives which will provide cash grants to our ‘near poor’ kababayans. It’s ironic that she even wants a Senate inquiry into AKAP when she should be the one investigated for depriving the ‘poorest of the poor’ of P13-billion last year,” Bongalon stressed.

The 4Ps operates in all the 17 regions in the Philippines, covering 79 provinces, 143 cities, and 1,484 municipalities. Beneficiaries are selected through the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR), which identifies who and where the poor are in the country.

Under 4Ps, each household with three children may receive P1,400 every month, or a total of P15,000 every year for five years.

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