CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

This chapter contains some related studies and related literature having bearing on the

study. This gave important concepts and ideas for the development of the study. 4ps-

Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino program.

In: social issues

Poverty is one of the biggest problem in the Philippines and remains a big challenge to

it. According to National Statistical Coordination Board Secretary General Jose Ramon G.

Albert, the poverty incidence among population was estimated at 27.9 percent during the first

semester of 2012, (NSCB 2012). Comparing this with the 2006 and 2009 first semester figures

estimated at 28.8 percent and 28.6 percent, respectively, poverty remained unchanged as the

computed differences are not statistically significant.

Latest official poverty thresholds show that poverty on Filipino family five needed Php

5,458 to meet basic food needs every month and Php 7,821 to stay above the poverty

threshold (basic food and non-food needs) every month. It only shows that the respective

amounts of the food and poverty thresholds increased by 11.1 percent from the first semester

of 2009 to the first half of the 2012 compared to the 26.0 percent increase between the first

semesters of 2006-2009, (NSCB 2012). According to the report of National Statistics Board,

poverty incidence among Filipino families estimated a rate of 22.3 percent during the first

semester of 2012, and 23.4 percent and 22.9 percent during the same periods in 2006 and

2009.
 Statistical data showed that poverty in the Philippines increases each year and due to

this problem, the government developed the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4P’S)

that has now become its flagship social assistance program to help the poor. Pantawid

Pamilyang Pilipino Program is a Modified Conditional Cash Transfer for the poor families in the

Philippines. According to Lucy Basset in her discussion paper entitled “Can Conditional Cash

Transfer Programs play a greater role in Reducing Child Undernutrition”? October 2008,

Conditional Cash Transfer Programs (CCTs) provide cash payments.

The 4ps is a social program that entails monetary and non-monetary transfers to the

poor or poorest families who have school-aged children on the condition that they meet the

programs terms that are aimed at improving their capacities (Cecchini and Madariaga 2011).

Brazil and Mexico were the first countries that implemented that 4ps program. The main

objective was to provide cash to families who are in extreme poverty in exchange for some

education and health care commitments. Since then, many countries, including the

Philippines, have attempted to replicate their examples.

The Pantawid Pamilyang Pilpino Program, OR 4P’S, is the Philippines’ version of the

conditional cash transfer. Based on the Department of Social Welfare and Development

studies (DSWD) primer, the 4ps is a poverty reduction and social development strategy of the

national government. It provides cash transfers to extremely poor households to help

improve their health, nutrition and education. The program specifically targeted poor families

with children aged 0-14. The two main objectives of the program are social assistance and
social development. The former aims to alleviate the poor’s immediate needs, hence it can be

termed as a short-term poverty alleviation measure. The latter, however, aims to break the

intergenerational poverty cycle by investing in human capital. Meanwhile, the 4P’S helps in

fulfilling the country ‘s commitment in the Millennium Development Goals particularly in: (1)

eradicating extreme poverty and hunger; (2) achieving universal primary education; (3)

promoting gender equality; (4) reducing child mortality, and (5) improving maternal health.

The 4Ps has two components, namely; health and education. Under the health

component, provides PhP 6,000 annually (PhP 500 per month) to each family beneficiary for

their health and nutrition expenses. Under the education component, it provides PhP 3,000

per child for one school year (i.e.,10 months) for meeting educational expenses. Each family

beneficiary shall receive up to a maximum of 3 children under the educational grant.

In return, the family-beneficiaries have to commit themselves to the following

conditionality’s: (1) pregnant woman must avail of the pre-and post-natal care and be

attended during childbirth by a trained medical professional; (2) parent must attend family

development seminars; (3) children aged 0-5 must undergo regular preventive health checks

and receive vaccines;(4) children aged 3-5 must attend day care or preschool classes at least

85 percent of the time; (5) children aged 6-14 must enroll in elementary or high school and

attend at least 85 percent of the time; (6) children aged 6-14 must receive de-worming pills

twice a year. The family –beneficiaries will receive the grant for a five years, provided that they

comply with the conditionality’s.

 The eligible beneficiaries of the 4ps are families; (1) from the poorest municipalities; (2)

whose condition is equal to or below the provincial poverty threshold; (3) with children aged

0-14 and/or a pregnant woman at the time of assessment; and, (4) that agree to meet the

program’s conditionality’s. The Department of Social Welfare and Development(DSWD) has

chosen the poorest municipalities based on the result of the 2003 Small Area Estimates (SAE)

generated by the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB). For municipalities with

poverty incidence higher than 50%, all barangays are assessed. But for those with poverty rate

lower than 50%, the criteria for selecting barangays are the “pockets of poverty” based on the

available socioeconomic profile of the municipality.

Conditional Cash Transfer Programs in Other Countries

This program is a local version of other conditional cash transfer programs of countries

from Latin America. Literature revealed that program like Bolsa Familia (Brazil) and

Opportunidades of Mexico provided special attention to older children, at least in terms of

subsidy amount. This draws from the fact that there is a greater opportunity cost for older

children to go to school. In Mexico, the data for 2000 shows that children start to drop out

when they reach middle school (CWDA 2010). The rate goes lower as children get older.

Hence, the Opportunidades provides assistance from the 3rd grade in elementary up to senior

year. The year assistance therefore covers 10 years of schooling at the maximum. Both Bolsa

Familia (Mourão and de Jesus 2012) and Familias en Acción target children aged up to 17 for

the education component of the program. In 2001, enrolment rate of children aged 8-11 in

Brazil was 97% while that of 15-years-olds was only 87%. Hence, the Bolsa Escola program,
renamed Bolsa Familia in 2003, was launched in 2001 to address this (Glewwe and Kassouf

2010).

True enough, studies show that Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program have greater

impact on older than younger children. A study on the Colombia case shows that the 4p’s

increased school participation of 14-to 17-years-old children quite substantially, by 5 to 7

percentage points. On the other hand, the program had lower effect on the enrolment rate

of younger children, only about 1 to 3 percentage points (Attanasio et al. 2010). A study on the

Brazil’s case also showed greater impact on enrolment of older children (i.e., those in Grades

5 to 8) than in younger children (i.e., Grades 1 to 4) (Glowwe and Kassouf 2010). In Mexico, an

international Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) study showed that the largest impacts

were reported on children going to secondary school. An increase of over 20% in enrolment

of girls and 10% for boys was observed. An important element of these 4p’s programs is their

targeting design. These programs target the extremely poor. The Bolsa Familia of Brazil

targets extremely poor households (i.e., those earning less than R$60 or US$34 per capita

monthly) regardless of the household composition; there is no conditionality for the childless

extremely poor households. This is in addition to the conditional monthly transfer that the

program provides to poor families (i.e., those earning less than R$120 or US$68 per capital)

with the children aged 0-17 and/or a pregnant woman with up to a maximum of three children

(soares et al. 2010). The opotunidades (formerly known as progress) started in rural

communities, targeting extremely poor households. It later expanded to cover the extremely

poor in urban areas. Colombia also targeted extremely poor households in selected

communities.
Effects of Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program to education

Santiago (2010) cited that initial study on the pilot areas of the program showed

promising results. In Esperanza and Sibagat, Agusan del Sur for example, two of the pilot

areas of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program elementary school enrollment has increase

by fifteen percent (15%). Moreover, children covered by Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program

have higher attendance compared to general population of children in school. There has been

a remarkable increase in the use of health services by pregnant women and children

compared to 2007 and there has also been a significant increase in the vaccination rate as well

as a decrease in prevalence of malnutrition among children.

Several studies backed up these initial findings. Result of recent evaluation studies on

Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program revealed that it has no significant negative impact on

work effort of household heads, leads to increase school participation of children, and results

in increased household consumption of education-related goods. These findings were

considered as early indicators of success of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program.

Moreover, orbeta (2011) stated that due to the implementation of the program,

parents now work to compensate for loss of income from children who attend school. Since

beneficiaries are obligated to attend Family Development Sessions, they now publicly

recognize the importance of education, and are convinced to keep their children in school.

In addition, Meanwhile, Reyes and Mina (2011) found out that the program led to an

increase of 3 to 4.6 percentage points in the school participation rate of children aged 6-14.
The results showed that around 96.3 percent of children of 4Ps families attend school. For the

matched non-4Ps families, the rate ranges from 91.7 to 93.3 percent.

However, the program was found to have no impact on increasing enrollment among

the older cohort of children aged 13-17. The majority of children aged 15-17 were not receiving

4ps grants as of 2011 since the age limit for coverage is 14 years old. The authors attribute this

to a larger cost associated with sending older children to school and the higher opportunity

cost because they can get employed instead. To address this issue, many 4Ps programs (i.e.,

those in Bangladesh, Brazil, Mexico, Honduras, And Turkey) provide larger cash transfer to

older children in order to compensate for the higher implicit/explicit cost associated with

schooling. Younger children who came from households with relatively smaller number if

school-aged children seem to be benefiting more from the program, compared to those who

came from larger households. No significant impact was found among children coming from

households with more than 3 school-aged children.

The most recent study done in the Philippines is that by Chaudhury and Okamura

(2012). The study documents the causal effect of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program on

the school participation. It used a small selective sample survey to determine the impact of

Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program on the objective of increasing school participation.

Covering 900 households, with children aged 9-17, in 9 municipalities in all 3 major islands

groups, the sample was split evenly between beneficiary (treatment) households and non-

beneficiary (control) households. The information on this came from their program status

according to the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program central database. Households were

surveyed in 2008 through the Household Assessment Form (HAF) survey under the NHTS-PR
for PMT purposes while the post-intervention data came from their 2011 assessment survey.

There was positive impact on school enrolment among children in the younger cohort aged

9-12 as 2011. These are the children who receive educational grants under the Pantawid

Pamilyang Pilipino Program throughout the period. Overall, the estimated program effect for

younger cohort ranges between 6 to 7 percent. Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program

beneficiary’s households are more likely to send their younger children to school compared

to non Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program households.

Moreover, additional findings show that Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program does

not influence school participation of children beyond the age coverage. The difference

between the school participation rate of Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program beneficiaries

and matched non Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program age group 15 to 18 turned out to be

insignificant. This led to the proposal to extend support to existing Pantawid Pamilyang

Pilipino Program beneficiaries to allow students to graduate from high school.

Tutor (2014) stated that households increased their consumption of education related

goods, which are good required for continued program participation. Families have

reallocated consumption to maintain their benefits, arguably because they understood the

program logic and have positive expectations of its impact on future household welfare.

Despite of these positive results, critiques of the program argued that it is still a

question whether school attendance will translate into academic achievement, completion

about their children completing high school since they acknowledge the lack of other income

generating opportunities, high cost of education, and limited provision and duration of
Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program as major constraints to their children’s full acquisition

and benefit of education. The teachers recognize he same formidable constraints and are

likewise wary, even befuddled about opportunities for children and youth from the (CCT)

households.

Challenges

In the Philippines case, data shows that the challenges we face as a country are similar

to those of Mexico in some cases but different in others. Older Filipino children also have

lower attendance rates than younger ones, which is understandable empirical fact. However,

the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program focuses on the younger age range, limiting the

intervention to poor families with children 14 years old and below. This is so despite the fact

that school participation is higher among elementary school children than older ones. The

school attendance rate of elementary children (aged 6-11) was 94.42 percent in 2007 based on

the APIS. In 2011, the estimate increased to 97.13 percent. At this high rate, it is plausible to

expect that the impact of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program on school attendance

could not go that large as the maximum of 100 is just around the corner. While we would

certainly like to achieve universal access to basic education, the problem of non-attendance

is more severe among older children. The attendance rate of children aged 15-18, for instance,

was only 62.85 percent in 2007 and 65.47 percent in 2011, based on the APIS. If such group

would have been simply larger.

Aside from these, Latin American 4Ps program have other design features that are

worth considering. For instance, pilot programs of several variations of Pantawid Pamilyang
Pilipino Program have been successful in Bogota, Colombia where the approach of

postponing a lump-sum payment to ensure enrolment in a higher level did not affect

Attendance rates. In additional to the standard, Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program they

implemented a savings Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program and graduation Pantawid

Pamilyang Pilipino Program. Mexico also provided incentive for finishing high school before

the age of 22. This perspective in targeting not only young but also older children has a bearing

on what impacts to expect and is, the program will likely lead to greater impact in terms of

point percentages on school participation of children in the older age range.

Advantages of the 4Ps

The “CCT programs address both future poverty, by fostering human capital

accumulation among the young as a means of breaking the intergenerational transmission of

poverty and current poverty, by providing income support for consumption in the short run”

(Rawlings & Rubio, 2005, p. 33). Indeed, the main objective of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino

Program and other CCT programs is to prevent inter-generational transference of poverty and

help break the infinite cycle of poverty by providing the children the suitable educational and

health assistance so as to help them develop the facilities for a better future. Investing in

children’s human capital and ensuring that they grow into educated and healthy adults, is the

equivalent of teaching them how to fish. Healthy, educated children ultimately have more

choices in life and are able to become productive members of society (Bloom, 2008).

Furthermore, the implementation of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program lessens the

incidence of child labor and other forms of child abuse. In cases of the other CCT programs
implemented in other countries, there are two interrelated mechanisms found to help combat

child labor. First, through their cash subsidy component, schooling’s directs costs are reduced,

thereby inducing families to send their children to school, as opposed to work. Second, these

programs require families to have their children attend school, 85% of the school days per

month in the case of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, in exchange to cash subsidy.

This requirement increases the time children spend in school and reduces the time they can

allocate to work (Gee, 2010). There is a noticeable increase in the number of enrollees in many

elementary schools in areas included in the scope of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino

Program, and kindergarten classes were being established to answer the need of the

community in compliance to the condition of sending 0-5 years old children in day care centers

and preschools (DSWD, 2009). Subsequently, if collaborative compliance to this requirement

of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, is ensured, the literacy rate of the children is also

expected to increase.

In the long run, the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program as well as the other CCT programs,

aims to establish social equality and mobility through education. As mentioned by Gundlach,

Navarro de Pablo, & Weiser (2010), the centrality of education in poverty-reduction policies

stems from the belief that education is a powerful equalizer and the main asset of most

people. Sen & Dreze (as cited by Calvo, 2011) incorporates the notion of inequality and social

exclusion as obstacles for the construction of a system of rights and opportunities.

Accordingly, people are poor not just because of a lack of economic resources to satisfy basic

needs, but also because they live in a social, economic and political system which does not

provide equality of opportunities. The Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program intend to provide
the basis for this much needed equality by providing the poor people with the education that

they could not access otherwise.

Malnutrition, which is prevalent among extremely poor families, is also expected to decrease.

Since it is a prime requirement for beneficiaries to avail of the health services being offered in

their health centers such as pre- and post-natal services, vaccination, and periodical check-ups

before acquiring their money grants, the health and nutrition of the poor families are

safeguarded.

The Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program also promotes gender empowerment seeing as the

responsibility of managing Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program the cash grants are given to

the mother. This decision is based on the experience in CCT programs showing that women

make relatively better use of grant money by using it to purchase food and/or other

necessities such as medicines, transportations and school supplies.

In the nutshell, the underlying concept of the CCT programs, and of the Pantawid Pamilyang

Pilipino Program as wells, is: once individuals are healthy, better fed, and educated, they will

be able to overcome poverty in the long run (Valencia, 2009).

Disadvantages of the 4Ps

Like any other government program, the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program also

have its disadvantages that may encumber its helpful benefits. One of the most crucial

characteristic of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program and other CCT programs

implemented in other countries is its being a ‘demand-side’ intervention instead of being a

‘supply-side’ intervention. That is, in order to be considered as a beneficiary of the program,

one must concede with the government’s demands and conditionality’s (Coady & Parker,

2002). This is remarkably notable in the conditions concerning education and health services

where the beneficiaries being brought into the education and health services system instead

of expanding the education and health systems in order to reach them.

Furthermore, as previously mentioned, poverty in the country is not only caused by the lack

of economic resources, but also because of socio-economic and political factors that prevent

the equality and distribution of resources. Although the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program

aims to provide the poor with the education which is, otherwise, inaccessible, it does not

directly answer the socio-economic and political problems that are the primary cause of

poverty. In the case of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program in the Philippines, it does not

answer the issues regarding the political and economic elite families. And poverty can only be

totally alleviated if there are programs that could target its roots.

The Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program will also encounter some difficulties in achieving

support from the other social classes, mainly because it does not benefit middle-income

groups which have also been steadily affected by limited universal services and decreases in

employment (Cuesta, 2007). These middle-income groups are also suffering from issues of

poverty and limited access to educational and health benefits, but are not included in the

target population of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program. The Pantawid Pamilyang

Pilipino Program is programmed to help only the extremely poor.

Another major disadvantage of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program implementation is

that it requires a huge amount of finance which we do not have at the present.
The Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program is a loan driven program, much of the funds

constituting the conditional cash grants given to beneficiaries are generated from loans

abroad, particularly from the United States. By the tail-end of August 2010, the Asian

Development Bank (ADB) approved a US$400 million loan specifically for the 4Ps which will

run from 2011 to 2014. This comprises 45.2 per cent of the total cost of US$884.2 million, where

US$484 million serves as the government’s counterpart. Having ADB’s US$400 million in

addition to the World Bank’s US$405 million, makes two-thirds of the whole Pantawid

Pamilyang Pilipino Program from 2009 to 2014 comprised of loans (Somera, 2010, p. 6).

Arguments against the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program point out that despite the large

amounts of financial resources needed to implement the program; it does not generate

guaranteed returns to the economy as much as infrastructure projects like construction of

roads, bridges, and railways do.

Chapter III

METHODOLOGY

This chapter presents the different aspects of methodology used in this study to

include: its research design, locale of the study, the respondents of the study, the research

instruments utilized, the research procedure, and the statistical treatment of data.

Research Design

This study used Descriptive Survey Design to integrate the different components of

the study addressing the research problem.

Research Locale

The study was conducted at Lungsodaan National High School, Brgy. Lungsodaan,

Hinundayan, Southern Leyte. It is the only public secondary School in the district of

Hinundayan. The number of Grade 12 students enrolled in this School Year counts up to 88

students. There are two sections in Grade 12 Senior High School.

In person interviews will be conducted in their vacant time.

Respondents of the Study

 The respondents of the study were the identified beneficiaries of Pantawid Pamilyang

Pilipino Program in Grade 12 students enrolled in Lungsodaan National High School SY 2017-

2018.

Table 1: Distribution of the Respondents

Category Grade 12 Total Percentage

M F e (%)

Students Beneficiaries 9 14 23 26.13%

Non-beneficiaries 26 39 65 73.86%

88

Sampling Design

This snowball sampling method or chain sampling was employed to determine the

potential respondents to be included and to gather enough data in the study.

Research Instrument

This instrument employed in the study will be questionnaire. However, some items

were included to obtain additional needed data. Since the instruments have already been

utilized in the studies with the same types of respondents.

The beneficiaries and the non-beneficiaries tested but simply shown to the research

panel for approval. The instruments asked the demographic profile of Grade 12 Students of

Lungsodaan National High School, perceptions of Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program and

the differences between the Academic performances of Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program

beneficiaries or Non beneficiaries of Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program. The questions are

open-ended to that respondents could give and share more quotes about the school

beneficiaries of Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program. This questionnaire was designed to

assess the degree existence of beneficiaries among Students at School. It was comprised of

five questions of beneficiaries of Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program.

Data Collection

Data will be gathered during the week of school days since this time, Students will be

available as respondents of the study. The respondents will be asked by using questionnaire

to answer about their experiences of being beneficiaries of Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino

Program. Once the respondents will be done in answering the researchers collected the

questionnaires, and then starts to process the collected data to come up with meaningful and

useful information.
Qualitative Data Analysis Procedure

The qualitative data obtained through questionnaire were subjected to thematic

analysis by having one-coder read through each piece of data to create a list of things that

were reflected by these data. This research employed a deductive approach to coding in which

the coder identified information the beneficiaries of Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program in

the data. After the first coder had read through all data to generate a list of themes, group of

three coders are read through all of the data again and use consensus-based approach to

confirm or modify each theme. This team also selected quotes illustrating this themes.