Senator Leila de Lima has asked the Senate to look into alleged anomalies and failures in the administration of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), the government’s social assistance program for the poorest Filipino families.
In two separate resolutions submitted by her staff on Monday, De Lima noted that the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) alleged inability to send out cash grants on the schedule was one of the failures identified by people on the ground.
There were also reports that the number of beneficiaries was lowered, which de Lima believes the Senate should investigate.
“Information recently gathered from some beneficiaries indicates that there were possible lapses in the implementation of the Program, including, but not limited to, delayed monthly financial benefits as well as reduction in the amounts received in many areas covered by the Program nationwide,” she said.
“Such lapses, if true, should be viewed with grave concern since these could result in noncompliance by some household-beneficiaries with the conditions for entitlement as provided for in Sections 11 and 12, respectively, of the Program,” De Lima added.
De Lima seeks probe on alleged 4Ps lapses
Low-income families can receive assistance under Republic Act No. 11310 or the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program Institutionalization Act, which requires the government to provide monthly dole-outs to beneficiaries of the social amelioration program (SAP) through the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
However, de Lima stated that the DSWD had had some difficulties implementing the 4Ps, citing the results of the Commission on Audit (COA) for the calendar year 2020, which stated that the department was unable to use approximately P780.7 million of its funding, which could have aided 139,300 recipients.
The money was held due to the inclusion of unqualified beneficiaries in Regions 2, 7, 8, and 11 and the Cordillera Administrative Region, according to state auditors in the DSWD’s annual audit report, which was released sometime in August 2021.
“Given the DSWD’s crucial role in poverty alleviation, it can ill-afford any setbacks or inefficiencies in implementing its key social protection programs,” De Lima said.
“It behooves the Senate to ascertain whether the DSWD still has the capacity to ensure that none of programs are compromised by reason of institutional weaknesses brought about by the various duties it has been tasked to fulfill above and beyond its current mandate,” she added.
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