167 poor families in Maguindanao Norte exit 4Ps program

The graduates of 4Ps program in Maguindanao del Norte during the ceremony on Monday, 24 October 2022. Photo courtesy of MSSD

KORONADAL CITY (MindaNews / 24 October) – At least 167 poor families from four towns in Maguindanao del Norte graduated Monday from the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), a poverty reduction strategy of the national government.

Bangsamoro Minister of Social Services and Development Raissa Jajurie led the graduation ceremony in Sultan Mastura, Maguindanao del Norte with the theme “Pagkilala sa Matagumpay na Pamilyang Bangsamoro” (Recognizing the successful Bangsamoro family).

The graduates, coming from the towns of Datu Odin Sinsuat, Sultan Mastura, Parang and Upi, received certificates of recognition for graduating from 4Ps, which means they no longer belong to the poorest of the poor families in the country.

“Their graduation signifies that they have accelerated from being on the survival or subsistence level to being self-sufficient,” Jajurie, also the Deputy Floor Leader of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority, said in a statement.

She said the beneficiaries’ graduation from 4Ps does not mean that the partnership of the Bangsamoro Ministry of Social Services and Development (MSSD) with them is over. 

Jajurie said that they can still avail of the MSSD’s Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP), Bangsamoro Sagip Kabuhayan and Angat Bangsamoro Kabataan tungo sa Kinabukasan to further uplift their well-being. 

The graduates received P15,000 each as business capital from SLP.

She also congratulated them “because during the course of being 4Ps beneficiaries, they were able to improve their lives, especially their children’s health, nutrition and education.”

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is implementing the 4Ps program.

Gemma Gabuya, 4Ps national program manager, assured the graduates that the national government will continue to assist them through its various other programs to further uplift their lives.

She also emphasized that exiting from 4Ps will give chance to other poor households to be part of the government’s poverty reduction program.

There are at least 4.4 million households enrolled under 4Ps nationwide, of which 381,972 families live in the Bangsamoro region, according to a June 2020 data from the DSWD.

Since 2008, the 4Ps (formerly known as the Bangon Pamilyang Pilipino Program) is a human development measure of the Philippine government, which provides conditional cash grants to the poorest of the poor families to improve the health, nutrition and education of children 18 years old and below. (MindaNews)