House Committee on Appropriations Vice Chair and Navotas City Representative Toby Tiangco on Friday expressed gratitude to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) for approving the release of overdue cash grants to Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) beneficiaries.

“This additional budget for the 4Ps will be a great help to our countrymen,” Tiangco said. “This only shows that the Marcos administration is serious about providing services and assistance to our fellow citizens in need.”

“We hope that this additional fund will be a bridge so that more families can be helped by our 4Ps program,” he added.

The Navotas solon also reiterated his full support for the approval of “ayuda” funding in the proposed 2025 budget, saying it’s essential to the proper implementation of assistance programs for poor and vulnerable sectors in the country.

“As I always say, we support the passage of full funds for the social programs of our government,” Tiangco said.

“In addition, we need to study how we can expand the various cash aid programs to provide adequate funds to programs that can lift them out of poverty,” he added.

In a statement, the DBM announced that the P5 billion additional funding will be sourced from the Continuing Appropriations of Fiscal Year 2023.

The DBM said the amount will be used to cover the FY 2023 4Ps grants in arrears, which resulted in the deactivation/suspension of 4Ps beneficiaries of around 703,888 households.