AGRI party-list Rep. Wilbert Lee called on his colleagues in the House of Representatives, the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS), and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), the lead agency of the National Advisory Council (NAC), in the midst of ongoing discussions on the suggested measures to raise cash grants for Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) beneficiaries.
"If we wait for the proposal to be passed, it may be until 2025 before the recipients may enjoy a potential increase in cash grants," Lee said in a statement on Friday.
"I urge the DSWD to speed up the process in order to increase the amount of the cash grant," he added.
The NAC is obliged by Section 7 of Republic Act (RA) 11310, also referred to as the "4Ps Act," to calculate the amount of cash grants to be disbursed to beneficiaries.
Section 10 of the same law mandates PIDS to "recommend to the NAC whether the cash grants shall be adjusted to their present value using the consumer price index, as published by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) every six years after the law's effective date."
RA 11310 further stipulates that "the NAC shall ensure that the grant amounts are sufficient to have a positive impact on the beneficiaries' health, nutrition, and education, and that the beneficiaries receive and spend the grant amounts on time."
Lee highlighted a PIDS report from April 28, 2023, which indicated their anticipated increase in 4Ps cash grants. Based on the findings of the study, the following adjustments were suggested: from P750 to P906 increase in health grant per month per household; from P300 to P362 increase in education allowance per month for every child enrolled in day care and elementary for a maximum of 10 months every year; from P500 to P604 increase in education allowance per month for every child enrolled in junior high school for a maximum of 10 months every year; and from P700 to P846 increase in education allowance per month for every child enrolled in senior high school for a maximum of 10 months every year.
Lee also provided a PIDS report from May 29, 2023, which stated that the maximum amount of P31,200 that a household beneficiary could receive annually had been cut in half, to only P14,524, due to "the unprecedented and damaging impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on property and the current global crisis affecting the prices of basic commodities."
"The NAC must guarantee that the cash grant is enough, particularly if the PIDS made the recommendations. Four out of every five Filipinos are concerned about providing food for their families," Lee said.
"We could also amend RA 11310 such that the cash grant evaluation process takes two or three years instead of six," he added.
Lee is the primary author of the "Expanded 4Ps Act," which aims at providing adult beneficiaries with capacity building, specifically education, entrepreneurial training, and skill upgrading.
On May 16, the House Committees on Appropriations and Poverty Alleviation approved the bill.
