More than 4.2 million Filipinos are benefiting from the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, or 4Ps, implemented by the Department of Social Welfare and Development, but it has to make sure the beneficiaries graduate from the program so that those in line behind them can also be helped.

At the regular press briefing at the DSWD main office in Quezon City on Thursday, Gemma B. Gabuya,  DSWD 4Ps director for the National Capital Region, said the biggest challenge they are facing is the expectation of the national government that at least 1.2 million of the 4Ps beneficiaries will be graduated from the program this year to accommodate more poorest of the poor Filipinos.

Gabuya said there are about 190,000 more on the waiting list who must also be given financial assistance so their children can at least finish Grade 12. 

The DSWD is finding ways to trim the numbers to meet the government’s expectations, she said, through the Social Welfare Development Indicators, where social workers “visit and assess the beneficiaries’ well-being.”

“The social workers’ visits are very important to see if they (beneficiaries) are now self-sufficient,” Gabuya said.

Although several 4Ps recipients have established livelihoods after their children finished their secondary-level education and got employed, many still have yet to graduate from the program.

“4Ps is not income or grants. It’s a complementary help to sustain their income for their children’s education until they graduate K-12,” she pointed out.

4Ps beneficiaries receive from P1,300 to P7,000 depending on the number of their children who are in primary to high school.

The Commission on Audit earlier noted that 80 percent of the beneficiaries were still on the list many years later.

This was also why Gabuya said they were into the SWDI measure, to ensure all the beneficiaries were accounted for and traceable.