MARAWI
CITY, Lanao del Sur, Oct. 21 (PIA) --- To raise awareness on the
government’s Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), the Department
of Social Welfare and Development in the Autonomous Region in Muslim
Mindanao (DSWD-ARMM) conducted a forum on October 19, in Cotabato City.
More than a hundred 4Ps beneficiaries in Maguindanao and representatives from civil society organizations attended the forum.
Hja.
Meriam Abdulkasan, regional deputy program manager of Pantawid program
said the activity is an initial step to determine the possibility of the
4Ps’ institutionalization through collaborative efforts with the
stakeholders.
The program is the national government’s
flagship poverty alleviation initiative, which provides grants to the
poorest households in order to improve health, nutrition and education
of children aged 0-18.
The DSWD-ARMM as the lead
government agency of the 4Ps is conducting the National Housing
Targeting System for Poverty Reduction or “Listahan” to determine other
poor families in the region.
In 2015, the national
government released P3.6 billion in cash grants that serves 418,030
family beneficiaries in ARMM. The program operates in five provinces,
two cities and 116 municipalities in the region.
Prince
Sean Soledad, the program’s regional monitoring and evaluation officer,
said this would serve as an investment for the future of the Bangsamoro
and could help eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, achieve universal
primary education, reduce child mortality, and improve maternal health
care.
The Pantawid program provides beneficiaries cash
grants of P500 per month per household for health and nutrition expenses
and P300 per child each month for educational expenses. Households with
three qualified children would receive P1,400 monthly.
To
get state subsidies, five-year old children beneficiaries must attend
day-care or pre-school classes and must get regular preventive health
checkups and vaccines while those six to 14 years old must be enrolled
in elementary, or high school with 85% attendance and must receive
de-worming pills twice a year.
Pregnant women
beneficiaries must avail themselves of pre- and post-natal care, while
parents are required to attend family development sessions, which
include topics on responsible parenting, health, and nutrition.
“Nagpapasalamat
po ako ng sobra kasi kung hindi dahil sa 4Ps hindi makaka pagtapos sa
pag-aaral ang dalawa kong anak (We’re thankful to the government
considering without the 4Ps, our two children would not be able to
finish school),” Fatima Buat Nanding, a single parent and one of the
4Ps’ beneficiaries in Maguindanao said during the forum.
Nanding’s
two children are currently working as teachers at Hja. Datu Saydona
Pendatun Foundation College in Maguindanao. She reiterated that the
government must sustain the implementation of the program to help other
poor families. (BPI/APB/PIA-10)
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