Senators to study if additional 4Ps budget needed in 2021

Senate leaders on Thursday said they would be studying if an additional budget for cash dole outs should be included in the proposed national budget for 2021 after the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) estimated that poor Filipino households may increase to 20 million next year.

"We will be looking at these programs as we hear the departments of DSWD, National Anti-Poverty Commission, Department of Labor and Employment, and other agencies that can help alleviate poverty in the country," Senate committee on finance chairperson Sonny Angara said in a message to GMA News Online.

Senate President Vicente Sotto III also said the members of the upper chamber will first "study and review."

Malacañang did not give a categorical response when asked if the government will push for higher funding for cash assistance to poor households.

Instead, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque underscored the importance of reopening the economy.

"Ganito na lang po, kaya maraming nagugutom ngayon kasi nga sinara natin ang ekonomiya, kinakailangang buksan natin para mas mapakaunti natin iyong mga numero ng mga nagugutom at ang tingin ko ang solusyon sa kagutuman ay buksan ang ekonomiya at palusugin natin ang ating ekonomiya," Roque said in a news conference.

In a budget hearing in the House of Representatives on Wednesday, the DSWD said it targets to register 16 million poor households in its National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction but the number could go as high as 20 million because of the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Based on the National Expenditure Program for the next fiscal year, P113.8 billion of the DSWD's proposed P169 billion budget is allocated for the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps)—a conditional cash transfer that requires beneficiaries to comply with human development goals such as sending children to school, getting regular health check-ups, and attending family development sessions, among others.

According to the Department of Budget and Management, the proposed national budget for 2021 does not include a social amelioration program or the COVID-19 emergency cash grant more commonly known as "ayuda."— with Virgil Lopez/AOL/RSJ, GMA News