4Ps cash grants will be topped up to reach P5k to P8k subsidy requirement for poor families

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) said Saturday it will top up the existing subsidies of Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) to reach the required P5,000 to P8,000 monthly allowance for some 18 million poor households affected by the enhanced community quarantine in Luzon.

In an interview during the Laging Handa public briefing on Saturday, DSWD spokesperson Irene Dumlao said the department will use its existing list of some four million 4Ps and unconditional cash transfer beneficiaries to identify those who will get P5,000 to a maximum P8,000 monthly allowance from the government.

The DSWD will also require barangays and local government units to submit lists of eligible beneficiaries to complete the 18 million poor households who will get the emergency subsidies.

“Government will support 4Ps beneficiaries with a top up para po ma-reach nila ‘yung P5,000 to P8,000,” Dumlao said.

“Halimbawa sa National Capital Region ang maximum na makukuha ay P8,000... so ang 4Ps beneficiary entitled for a top up para ma-reach ‘yung [requirement],” she said.

The Social Welfare department is also computing how much a beneficiary can get per region.

Under the recently-enacted "Bayanihan to Heal as One Act," low-income Filipino households must be targeted to receive P5,000 to P8,000 monthly allowance, in cash or in kind, for two months while the enhanced community quarantine is in effect over Luzon and other affected areas.

Those who are entitled for the allowance are low-income as well as “no work, no pay” households whose livelihoods were disrupted by the Luzon lockdown put in place to prevent the further spread of COVID-19.

Dumlao also said the DSWD has so far provided P35 million worth of assistance to various provinces in Luzon as well as the 17 LGUs in Metro Manila. —KG, GMA News