4Ps graduate expects sustained progress

Estelita Aquino, the mayor of Moncada town in Tarlac, is prioritizing graduates of the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) in their programs and services to help sustain the gains of 4P families. That bodes well for Marina Medina.

The Medinas has gone a long way from being a struggling family that went home to Moncada from Manila in 2020 because she and her husband had no regular jobs there. Through hard work and proper management of 4Ps resources, the family now has their own home and other investments.

Marina herself became a model of a community member empowered through the 4Ps’ monthly family development sessions (FDS). From a parent leader, she gained the trust of the community and was elected as chairperson of Barangay Tolega Sur.

The mother of three recalls in Kwento ng Pag-Asa at Pagbabago (#KPAP), an award-winning online documentary of the DSWD, sewing at night and doing laundry to make ends meet, as well as asking for food like rice.

Marina, whose family lived in her mother’s house at the time, also dried palay to earn.

When a DSWD team went to the village, she enrolled in the 4Ps which started to improve their lives.

Launched in 2008 and institutionalized by Republic Act 11310 in 2019, the 4Ps is the national poverty reduction strategy and human capital investment program that provides conditional cash transfer to poor households for a maximum period of seven years to improve their children’s health, nutrition and education, and empowers parents to be responsible stewards of their family.

Marina was so glad the first time they received the payout of P1,600 and the DSWD gave them a pig and chicken to start a livestock business.

The payout, which was given every three months, was used to cover the educational expenses of their three children, her husband, Rodolfo, said.

After graduating from high school, their eldest child, Lyka, was able to get a full college scholarship which was granted because she was a 4Ps monitored child. She graduated cum laude and was the top in their batch. Lyka also passed the licensure exam for teachers and is now working and helping the family achieve their dreams.

Lyka advised all 4Ps children to take advantage of this opportunity, study hard, and use the program as a stepping stone to fulfill their dreams.

She expressed gratitude to the 4Ps program and the government for guiding them in their education and everyday living to enable them to raise their living standards.

With the successful transformation of the Medina family through the 4Ps, they graduated from the program. The help promised by the municipal government hopes to sustain and further improve the gains of the family from 4Ps. Jing Villamente