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Republic of the Philippines SE SSENTATIES
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ROCEMVED

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Quezon City Dave:-3.0 JUN 2016

SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

PESISTR ATION UF
House Bill No. 018 HLLS ANID INGEX SERVICE

Introduced by Honorable Fredenil H. Castro

AN ACT
INSTITUTIONALIZING THE PANTAWID PAMILYANG PILIPINO PROGRAM (4Ps) TO
REDUCE POVERTY AND PROMOTE HUMAN CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT AND
PROVIDING FUNDS THEREFOR

EXPLANATORY NOTE

Section 9, Article II of the 1987 Constitution mandates, “The State shall promote a just and
dynamic social order that will ensure the prosperity and independence of the nation and free the
people from poverty through policies that provide adequate social services, promote full
employment, a rising standard of living, and an improved quality of life for all."

For the past years, the members of Congress as well as those in the other sectors of society
have worked their fingers to the bone to end the perennial and deeply rooted problem of poverty.
While progress may have been felt, yet the desired goal remains elusive. The latest available data
of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed a poverty incidence at 26.3% of the population
as of the 1 semester of 2015. This means that roughly around 26,483,941 Filipinos were below the
poverty threshold, or, simply, cannot afford the basic food and non-food (clothing, shelter and
education) needs

This bill aims to concretely and directly provide our less fortunate Filipino brothers and

sisters the means to assuage their basic needs and at the same time ensure a better future for their
children. It is upon the aegis of the foregoing that the present bill is sought to be passed.

‘DENIL H. CASTRO


CONGRESS OF THE PHILIPPINES }
SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS }
First Regular Session }

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

House Bill No,__ 518

Introduced By Representative Fredenil H. Castro

AN ACT INSTITUTIONALIZING THE PANTAWID PAMILYANG PILIPINO PROGRAM
(4Ps) TO REDUCE POVERTY AND PROMOTE HUMAN CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT
AND PROVIDING FUNDS THEREFOR

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in
Congress assembled:

SECTION 1. Short Title. ~ This Act shall be known as the “Pantawid Pamilyang
Pilipino Program (4Ps) Act”.

SEC. 2. Declaration of Policy. — The State recognizes the need to strengthen the
solidarity of the family and actively promote its total development.

The State further recognizes its obligation to promote a just and dynamic social order
that will ensure the prosperity and independence of the nation and free the people from
poverty through policies that provide adequate social services, promote full employment, a
rising standard of living, and an improved quality of life for all.

The State furthermore recognizes the need to protect the poor; thus, the State hereby
declares it a policy to:

(a) Provide assistance to the poor to alleviate their immediate needs;

(b) Break the intergenerational cycle of poverty through investment in human capital
and improved delivery of basic services to the poor, particularly education, health and
nutrition;

(©) Promote gender equality and empowerment of women;

(@) Achieve universal primary education;

(e) Reduce child mortality; and

(8) Improve maternal health.

SEC. 3. Definition of Terms. — As used in this Act:

(a) Case management refers to a process used by the Department of Social Welfare
and Development (DSWD) to enable the household-beneficiaries to improve their
functioning by dealing with their difficulties specifically in complying with the
conditionalities of the Program;


() Compliance verification refers to the checking and monitoring done to ensure that
the qualified household-beneficiaries comply with conditions for entitlement set forth by the
Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps);

(©) Conditional cash grant refers to the amount being received by the qualified
household-beneficiaries who comply with the conditions for entitlement;

(@) Extremely poor refers to households, duly identified by the standardized targeting
system, whose income falls short of enabling them to provide even just their nutritional
requirements;

(€) Grantee refers to the most responsible adult member of the qualified household-
beneficiary authorized to receive the conditional cash transfer;

(f) Grievance Redress System refers to the mechanism of the DSWD which addresses
and resolves issues and concerns related to the implementation of the Program;

(g) Health facility refers to a barangay health station, rural health unit or primary
hospital;

(h) Health service providers refer to barangay health workers, barangay nutrition
scholars and midwives;

(i) Poor refers to households whose income falls below the poverty threshold as
defined by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) and cannot afford in
a sustained manner to provide their minimum basic needs of food, health, education, housing
and other essential amenities of life;

(W) Preventive health check-up refers to health services comprising of complete
immunization, deworming, weight monitoring and management of childhood diseases;

(Kk) Program refers to the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) which is the
national poverty reduction strategy that provides conditional cash transfer to poor households
to improve their health, nutrition and education;

() Qualified household-beneficiaries refer to households identified by the DSWD for
entitlement of the monthly conditional cash grant;

(m) Responsible person refers to the parent or guardian in the qualified household-
beneficiary; and

(n) Standardized Targeting System refers to a system for identifying who and where
the poor households are through the generation of socioeconomic database of poor
households that is adopted by national government agencies and implemented by the DSWD.

SEC. 4, Selection of Qualified Household-Beneficiaries. — On a nationwide basis, the
DSWD shall select qualified household-beneficiaries using a standardized targeting system.
The DSWD shall conduct a revalidation of targeting of beneficiaries every three (3) years.

SEC. 5. Local Verification Committee. — A Local Verification Committee shall be
created in every municipality or city composed of two (2) local government unit
representatives, an accredited health-service provider from the barangay, a representative of
an accredited civil society organization, and the school head as designated by the Department
of Education (DepED).

The Committee shall be tasked to ensure that the initial list of beneficiaries satisfies
the eligibility requirements set forth under this Act.

SEC. 6. Conditional Cash Transfer, ~ Subject to certain conditions, each qualified
household-beneficiary shall receive a conditional cash transfer equivalent to five hundred
‘pesos (P500.00) per month for health and nutrition expenses or the equivalent of six thousand
pesos (P6,000.00) per qualified household-beneficiary per year.


A maximum of three (3) children per qualified household-beneficiary shall be given
conditional cash grants for educational expenses:

(a) Three hundred pesos (P300.00) per month per child enrolled in elementary or the
equivalent of three thousand pesos (P3,000.00) per a ten (10)-month school year;

(b) Five hundred pesos (P500.00) per month per child enrolled in junior high school
or the equivalent of five thousand pesos (P5,000.00) per a ten (10)-month school year; and

(©) Seven hundred pesos (P700.00) per month per child enrolled in senior high school
or the equivalent of seven thousand pesos (P7,000.00) per a ten (10)-month school year.
A supplementary education grant of three hundred pesos (P300.00) per month shall be given
to the child in elementary or high school who has maintained passing grades in all subjects
after the second year of availment of the Program.

SEC. 7. Conditions for Entitlement. ~ All qualified household-beneficiaries shall
comply with the following conditions as a requirement for continued program eligibility:

(a) Children zero (0) to five (5) years old must receive regular preventive health
check-ups and vaccinations;

(b) Children six (6) to thirteen (13) years old must avail of deworming pills at least
twice a year;

(©) Children three (3) to five (5) years old must attend day care or preschool classes at
least eighty-five percent (85%) of the time;

(@) Children must attend elementary or high school classes at least eighty-five percent
(85%) of the time;

(©) Pregnant women must avail of pre- and post-natal care and give birth with the
assistance of a skilled or trained health care professional in a health facility;

(f) At least one (1) responsible person must attend family development sessions and
natural family planning sessions conducted by the DSWD, at least once a month;

(g) At least one (1) responsible person must join and complete at least two (2)
government-recognized or accredited nongovernment organization (NGO)-sponsored
entrepreneurship or livelihood training programs;

(h) At least one (1) responsible person must maintain cleanliness in the surroundings
and practice proper garbage disposal;

(i) At least one (1) responsible person must plant trees in the surroundings; and

(j) At least one (1) responsible person must assist, help or participate in bayanihan
projects in their respective barangay or municipality.

SEC. 8. Noncompliance with Conditions. - The responsible person of a reported
qualified household-beneficiary who fails to comply with the conditions set forth in Section 7
of this Act shall at first be notified in writing. After four (4) months of noncompliance, the
household-beneficiary shall be subject to case management. If, despite the case management,
the qualified houschold-beneficiary continues with noncompliance, the benefits under this
Act may be suspended.

Should the qualified household-beneficiary so notified persist in not complying with
the conditions within a period of one (1) year, the conditional cash grant shall be cancelled.

SEC. 9. Mode of Cash Transfer. ~ The conditional cash transfer shall be made by the
DSWD. The conditional cash grant shall be received by the grantee or any of the grantee’s
duly authorized representative on a bimonthly basis through an authorized government
depository bank duly identified by the DSWD, using different appropriate payment modes,


including cash card, over-the-counter transaction, money remittance services, conduit rural
banks, and cooperatives.

SEC. 10. Periodic Assessment. — The amounts indicated in Section 6 of this Act shall
be made available to the qualified household-beneficiaries during the first two (2) years of the
implementation of this Act and reasonable adjustments may thereafter be made by the
President, if necessary, upon recommendation by the DSWD, after taking into account the
rates of inflation and similar economic indicators.

The grant rates may be adjusted by the DSWD if warranted by the changes in the
socioeconomic conditions existing at the time. The DSWD shall ensure that the grant rates
are sufficient to make a positive impact on the health, nutrition and education of grantees:

Provided, That the DSWD shall ensure that the grant will not serve as disincentive for
family members to work and improve their economic conditions.

SEC. 11. Loan Assistance. — Responsible persons who successfully completed the
entrepreneurship ot livelihood programs required under Section 7 of this Act may be given
loan assistance as their initial capital by the appropriate government agency that will
implement relevant programs pursuant to Section 16 of this Act.

SEC. 12. Five (5)-Year Maximum Limit. — Each qualified household-beneficiary shall
receive the conditional cash grant for a maximum period of five (5) years.

SEC. 13. Lead Agency. — The DSWD shalll serve as the central planning, coordinating,
implementing and monitoring body of the Program.

In the implementation of this Act, the DSWD shall have the following functions:

(a) Select and use an appropriate, effective and cost-efficient method devised for the
purpose of identifying and selecting qualified household-beneficiaries;

(b) Identify and select the target houschold-beneficiaries on the basis of a uniform,
objective and transparent selection process;

(c) Conduct seminar-workshops and training programs in order to ensure qualified
household-beneficiary awareness of the conditions and other actions pertinent to this Act;

(@) Coordinate with different national and local agencies, including organizations
from the private sector to ensure full implementation of statutory commitments herein;

(e) Set up monitoring and evaluation systems and methodologies on compliance of
conditions, implementation of operations, and output and impact assessments. It shall also
coordinate with the advisory and monitoring committees at the national, regional and
municipal levels to verify compliance once a month using the monitoring and evaluation
systems designed for the purpose;

() Recommend to the President measures and policies for the responsive delivery of
the commitments under this Act;

(g) Coordinate with different national and local agencies to maintain and update
objective poverty maps which will be checked and cross-checked periodically for
duplications and inaccurate or erroneous information;

(h) Formulate implementing rules and guidelines for the enforcement of this Act;

(i) Submit an annual report to Congress including, but not limited to, all aspects of its
operations, financial status and other relevant data; and

) Perform such other functions as may be necessary or incidental to the proper


implementation of the provisions of this Act.

SEC. 14. Advisory Council. ~ An Advisory Council shall be created at the municipal,

regional and national levels to be headed by the DSWD and may be composed of
representatives from the DepED, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority,
Department of Health, Philippine Health Insurance Corporation, Department of the Interior
and Local Government, Department of Trade and Industry, Department of Labor and
Employment, National Anti-Poverty Commission, the Presidential Commission for the Urban
Poor (PCUP), the local government unit concerned, and accredited NGOs, as members.
The Advisory Council is principally tasked to monitor and assess actions and activities
relative to the implementation of the Program. It shall also serve as a Grievance Committee
tasked to accept complaints and grievances that may arise within their respective territorial
jurisdictions, conduct investigation in specific cases and dispose cases filed in connection
thereto, using the Grievance Redress System.

SEC. 15. Independent Monitoring Committee. — An Independent Monitoring
Committee at the municipal, regional and national level composed of representatives from the
private sector and civil society organizations shall be created.

The Independent Monitoring Committee is principally tasked to complement the
monitoring activities of the DSWD and provide feedback thereto for proper action. It shall
submit a report on the results of its monitoring activities relative to the implementation of the
Program to the Advisory Council.

SEC. 16. Convergence of Programs and Services. - To ensure that the targeted
household-beneficiaries remain nonpoor after the prescribed maximum limit for receipt of the
conditional cash grant, multi-stakeholder and interagency convergence of programs and
services shall be implemented. This shall focus on the enhancement of operational efficiency
and strengthening of interagency partnerships for greater impact and sustainability of
outcomes.

SEC. 17. Appropriations. — The amount necessary to carry out the provisions of this
‘Act shall be charged against those authorized in the current and subsequent General
Appropriations Acts.

‘The appropriation shall continue until the Program has covered sixty percent (60%) of
the total number of extremely poor families in the Philippines, as may be determined by the
Philippine Statistics Authority at the time of the enactment of this Act. The appropriation
shall be included in the annual appropriation of the DSWD.

SEC. 18. Penalty, — Any person, public or private, whether or not acting in conspiracy
with public officials, who, by act or omission, inserts or allows the insertion of data or false
information, or who diverts from what ought to be contained in the registry, with the view of
altering the fact, or aiding in the grant of the money to persons other than the qualified
household-beneficiaries, shall be penalized with imprisonment of not less than one (1) month
but not more than six (6) months, or a fine of not less than ten thousand pesos (P10,000.00)
‘but not more than twenty thousand pesos (P20,000.00), or both imprisonment and fine, at the
discretion of the court.

Administrative sanctions shall be imposed without prejudice to prosecution in the


proper courts.

SEC. 19. Joint Congressional Oversight Committee. — Upon the effectivity of this Act,
a congressional oversight committee, hereafter to be referred to as the 4Ps Committee, is
hereby constituted. The 4Ps Committee shall be composed of fourteen (14) members with the
chairpersons of the Committee on Poverty Alleviation of the House of Representatives, and
the Committee on Social Justice, Welfare and Rural Development of the Senate and six (6)
additional members from each House, to be designated by the Speaker of the House of
Representatives and the Senate President, respectively. This Committee is principally tasked
to set the overall framework to monitor and ensure the proper implementation of this Act. It
shall likewise determine inherent weaknesses in the law and recommend necessary remedial
legislation or executive measures.

SEC. 20. Implementing Rules and Regulations. — Within six (6) months from the
effectivity of this Act, the Secretary of Social Welfare and Development shall, in coordination
with appropriate government departments and agencies, with the participation of the local
government units, promulgate the necessary rules and regulations to carry out the provisions
of this Act.

SEC. 21. Separability Clause. ~ If any part or provision of this Act is held
unconstitutional or invalid, the remaining parts or provisions not affected shall remain in full
force and effect.

SEC. 22. Repealing Clause. ~ Any law, presidential decree or issuance, executive
order, letter of instruction, administrative order, rule or regulation contrary to or inconsistent
with the provisions of this Act is hereby repealed, modified, or amended accordingly.

SEC. 23. Effectivity. - This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its publication
in the Official Gazette or in a newspaper of general circulation.

Approved,