President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on Tuesday ordered wider coverage for the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) by including pregnant and lactating women to ensure the health of children in their first 1,000 days.
President Marcos met with the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Department of Health and other concerned agencies in Malacañan Palace to present respective studies and recommendations on reforming the 4Ps cash grants.
During a February sectoral meeting on the Proposed Reforms to the 4Ps, the DSWD proposed to increase the 4Ps grant amounts and provide cash grant to First 1,000 Days (F1KD) of children. The adjustments would increase the purchasing power of the 4Ps beneficiaries and provide an incentive for them to improve compliance with program conditions that would prevent malnutrition and stunting.
During the sectoral meeting on Tuesday, the President approved the proposal of the DSWD for the granting of a cash grant to pregnant and lactating women to ensure that they would seek health services to address the health needs of their children in their first 1000 days.
“Okay. Yes. Let’s do that. On the first 1,000 days of a child’s life, bring the mother, the family into the system. That’s really good,” the President said.
The President then directed the DSWD and the NEDA to draw up the final numbers and forward them to him so that the necessary adjustments could be done, as he underscored the importance of the additional support.
Under the current program, a 4Ps beneficiary-family receives daycare and elementary grant of P300 per child per month for ten months, conditional on their child’s school attendance; P500 per child per month for ten months for junior high school with the same conditionality on their child’s school attendance and P700 per child per month for ten months for senior high school with the same condition; and P750 per month per household for 12 months provided that their children aged 2-14 years old under growth development and monitoring; deworming and attend family development sessions.
The President earlier ordered a study on the adjustments in the 4Ps cash grants to address health gaps in the system and help beneficiaries keep up with inflation. PND
