Pantawid Pamilya beneficiaries in Olongapo City receive their initial financial assistance

Around 827 Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) beneficiaries from 12 barangays in Olongapo City recently received their initial financial grant for 2011.

Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) regional information officer Evelyn Manalo disclosed that the amount given during the April 14 to 15 pay-out covered the months of January and February.

DSWD 3 director Adelina Apostol thanked Olongapo city mayor James Gordon and Zambales 1st district representative Ma. Milagros Magsaysay for their full support to Pantawid Pamilya.

Apostol appealed to the beneficiaries to use the money wisely and become compliant with the program’s set of conditions to ensure the success of its implementation.

Derived from the Conditional Cash Transfer scheme of Latin American and African countries, Pantawid Pamilya is the strategy used by the government in order to raise the standard of living of poor Filipinos.

Each household is entitled to a maximum of three children beneficiaries who are 0-14 years of age.

A pregnant woman can also be a beneficiary provided that her pregnancy occurred during the time of assessment.

A household with three qualified children receives a subsidy of P1,400 per month during school months (June-March) and P500 per month during non-school months (April-May).

This, as long as the beneficiaries comply with the program’s conditions that include the regular visit of the children in the health center to avail immunization and maintenance of a class attendance rate of at least 85% per month for those who are enrolled in day care centers or schools.

Beneficiaries are selected through the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction- a mechanism that uses the Proxy Means Test (PMT).

The PMT is an electronic formula composed of socio-economic variables that ranks and selects the household beneficiaries based on the household assessment form (HAF) filled-up during the enumeration.

A household whose economic condition falls on or below the poverty line would qualify for the said program.(WLB/CLJD-PIA 3)