'OKAY NA KAMI'

40k voluntarily withdraw from 4Ps

Around 40,000 recipients of the government’s Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) have voluntarily asked to be removed from the program amid the ongoing review of its list of beneficiaries.

According to Jun Veneracion’s report on “24 Oras”, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is eyeing to delist around 1.3 million families from the 4Ps as they are no longer be considered “poor”.

“Marami ring mga success stories na hindi lang karamihan ng ating naririnig na pinang-iinom, pinangsusugal. Mayroon talagang success stories na kagaya nyan na 'okay na kami, hindi na namin kailangan. Salamat, ibigay nyo na lang sa iba’,” DSWD Secretary Erwin Tulfo said.

(There are a lot of success stories, unlike the ones we often hear that a recipient has been using the cash subsidy to drink or to gamble. There are success stories in which the beneficiaries are telling us ‘We’re okay now. We no longer need it. Thank you, please use it to help others.’)

Around 600,000 beneficiaries are still being investigated if they are still eligible for financial assistance, the department said.

The 4Ps beneficiaries are delisted if a beneficiary’s monthly income has increased to over P12,000, if they have no child that has to be sent to school or if a recipient is confirmed to have used the cash subsidy for gambling.

Apart from helping the “poorest of the poor”, the DSWD is also extending assistance to the victims of the powerful earthquake that struck Northern Luzon last week.  -- Sundy Locus/BAP, GMA News