P1.3-B 4Ps cash doles yet to be withdrawn by beneficiaries

Around P1.3 billion worth of cash doles has yet to be withdrawn by beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), the latest Commission on Audit (COA) report stated.

In a 24 Oras report by Marisol Abdurahman on Wednesday, COA said the amount includes 1,889,994 accounts with balances ranging from P501 to more than P50,000. The said grants were not withdrawn within the period of 30 to 2,190 days.

The DSWD, for its part, clarified that 713,000 of the said accounts were already empty.

"1,803,000 na cash cards ang balance na lang niya is P75, maski gustuhin nilang iwithdraw, hindi rin nila mawithdraw," DSWD Undersecretary Camilo Gudmalin said, adding that 124,000 accounts have a balance of more than P500.

He noted that last June, 19,500 accounts were already withdrawn by its beneficiaries while more or less 12,000 are already for closure as some beneficiaries said that they no longer need financial assistance from the government.

The DSWD also said some beneficiaries chose to "save" their cash grants.

"Of the P1.3 billion, P1 billion of these has already been either hindi mawithdraw dahil P75 lang, hindi mawithdraw dahil sinesave," Gudmalin said.

Following this, the agency has validated the list of beneficiaries to determine whether they should still be given monetary aid from the government.

Introduced by the DSWD in 2008, the 4Ps is a conditional cash transfer system facilitating financial help for health and educational expenses to qualified beneficiaries who, in turn, render services geared toward human capital development. —NB, GMA News