182,455 CL households new 4Ps beneficiaries

By George Trillo

ANGELES CITY – An additional 182,455 indigent households in Central Luzon have been enrolled into the government’s Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps).

 Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) regional director Adelina Apostol said a total of 283,991 program in 13 cities and 117 towns in Central Luzon would now avail themselves of the 4Ps.

 The DSWD wants to bring the 4Ps beneficiaries to a total of 322,622 identified poor families in the region.

The 4Ps provides cash grants of P1,400 per month from June to March and P500 per month from April to May or P300 per child per month and P500 per household as long as the beneficiaries comply with certain conditions, including availment of health services.

Meanwhile, Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago demanded an explanation from the DSWD over its P3.8-billion budget for salaries, bank service fees and other overhead expenses for its conditional cash transfer program this year.

 “I assume that the workers being hired by the DSWD to administer the CCT program are contractual workers. So how many are now in the DSWD payroll? How are they distributed in different parts of the country? Is there any correlation between the number of workers and the number of beneficiaries by region?” Santiago said.

 Santiago said the expenses in administering the CCT program could be reduced by asking the help of local government units.