JULY 23, 2016

NR # 4270B

Institutionalize a national conditional fund transfer program Yap

A legislator is seeking the creation of a national conditional fund transfer program
in order to reduce poverty and promote human capital development.
Rep. Arthur Yap (3rd District, Bohol) filed House Bill 823 creating the Pantawid
Pamilyang Pilipino Program to institutionalize the implementation of the program by
providing for the statutory authority, ensuring continuous funding and laying down the
basic parameters for the determination of target-beneficiaries and conditions for
compliance.
Yap said the 4Ps aims to provide monitoring and assessment mechanism for the
evaluation of the program and defines the duties and obligations of concerned government
agencies tasked for the implementation of the program.
The main objective of the program is to impact on the hunger situation of the
poorest families in the country by granting them conditional cash benefits and investing in
human capital. The conditionalities of the grant are primarily for the parents to send their
children to school and to health care centers on a regular basis, Yap said.
Citing the data gathered by the Philippine National Statistics Authority in the first
semester of 2015, Yap said poverty incidence is at 25.3%, the lowest in nine years. The
report also stated that 16% of Filipino families do not have enough income to buy their
basic food and non-food needs.
Poverty remains to be the most critical socio-economic problem that needs to be
addressed. Still, the government hopes to lower the incidence of poverty through the
implementation of various programs and projects, which will ensure the delivery of
appropriate and sufficient basic services to the people such as food security, educational
and health services among others, Yap said.
Under the measure to be known as the Conditional Cash Subsidy
Institutionalization Act of 2016, priority shall be given to the poorest household in the
country selected through a uniform, objective and transparent set of criteria.
The targeted household-beneficiary shall receive a conditional cash subsidy of P500
per month for health and nutrition expenses or an equivalent of P6,000 per householdbeneficiary per year.
The bill also provides an additional P300 per month per child for educational
expenses or the equivalent of P3,000 per a ten-month school year. A maximum of three
children per household-beneficiary shall be allowed.

The measure imposes program conditions to ensure compliance of all beneficiaries.

These conditions consist of regular pre and post-natal care for pregnant women, attend
responsible parenthood sessions, mothers classes and parent effectiveness seminars,
preventive health check-ups and vaccine for children 0-5 years old and enrollment of
children 3-5 years of age in day care program or pre-school and attend at least 85% of the
required school days.
Further, children 6-14 years old must be enrolled in school and attend at least 85%
of the required school days and must also undergo deworming at least twice a year.
Each household-beneficiary shall receive the conditional cash subsidy for a
maximum period of five years.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) shall serve as the
central planning, coordinating, implementing and monitoring body.
The bill warrants the suspension and /or removal of the beneficiary from the
program for failure to comply with its conditions. (30) lvc