Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
Second Regular Session

House Bill No, 6536

Introduced by AKBAYAN Party-List Representative Tomasito S. Villarin

EXPLANATORY NOTE

Income inequality in the Philippines is considered one of the highest in the world.
One in five Filipinos cannot make ends meet and many poor families are still not
able to send their children to school because they cannot afford to buy
notebooks, pencils and other necessities, even if public schools are free.

If this trend continues, the gap between the poor and the rich will further widen,

To arrest this, the government through the Department of Social Welfare and
Development (DSWD) implemented a Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) Program
called the Pantawid ng Pamilyang Pilipino Program or 4Ps in 2007. During this
time, the 4Ps initially covered 6,000 families only, By December 2016, the
program was already reaching 20 million Filipinos representing 4.4 million
families.

It is noteworthy to mention that CCT programs like the 4Ps are currently being
implemented in more than 70 countries, including developed ones, and even in
cities as advanced as New York City.

Based on a 2015 World Bank evaluation, the 4Ps had an estimated poverty
reduction impact of 1.4 percentage points per year. In other words, without the
4Ps, there would have been 1.5 million more Filipinos in poverty.

Significant improvements in the health situation and educational attainment of
children-beneficiaries were also noted during the 4Ps implementation period.
Access to healthier food resulted in a 10% reduction in severe stunting among
children. Latest DSWD data also shows that there is nearly universal enrollment
for elementary-age children among 4Ps families and that of the 333,673 who
graduated from High School in 2015, 13,400 graduated with honors.

Previous DSWD, World Bank and MIT research studies, likewise, have found
overwhelming evidence that CCTs do not discourage people from seeking work.
In fact, 4Ps beneficiaries are 5% more likely to seek work than non-beneficiaries.
Spending on vices such as alcohol and tobacco is also nearly 40% lower among
4Ps families.

This bill seeks to address the inequality in Philippine society by institutionalizing
the 4Ps to break the inter-generational cycle of poverty through investment in
human capital and the delivery of basic services to the poor.


Thus, the approval of this bill is earnestly sought.

TO! S. VILLARIN


Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
Second Regular Session

House Bill No. 6536

Introduced by AKBAYAN Party-List Representative Tomasito 8. Villarin

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;

d, achieve universal primary education;

€. reduce child mortality; and

f. 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

improve their functioning by dealing with their difficulties specifically in
complying with the conditionalities of the program;


b. 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;

c. Conditional Cash Grant refers to the amount being received by the
qualified household-beneficiaries who comply with the conditions for
entitlement;

d. 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
houschold-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;

8. 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 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.

j. Preventive Health Check Up refers to health services comprising of
complete immunization, deworming, weight monitoring and management of
childhood diseases;

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
pswo ‘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 socio-economic
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
nation-wide basis, the Department 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 (3) civil society

2


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. Eligible Beneficiaries. - To be cligible for the cash grants,
houscholds must meet the following criteria:

1. Those belonging to the extremely poor household classification as
defined by the poverty threshold of the municipality/province based on the
issuance of the National Statistical and Coordination Board (NSCB) at the time
of selection; or those households from the informal settlers sector, who will be
displaced by the clearing and relocation operations of the government;
Provided, That those residing in danger areas like esteros, riverbanks,
waterways, shorelines, garbage dumps, and railroad tracks shall be given
priority;

2. Those households which, at the time of registration into the program,
have members who are aged 0 to 18 years old or have members who are
pregnant; and

3. Those who are willing to comply with the conditions specified by this
Act,

SEC. 7, Conditional Cash Transfer. — Subject to certain conditions,
each qualified houschold-beneficiary shall receive the following:

1. A conditional cash transfer equivalent to Five hundred pesos (Ph
P500.00) per month for health and nutrition expenses or the equivalent of Six
thousand pesos (PhP6,000.00) per qualified household-beneficiary per year.
‘The health/nutrition grant component aims to promote healthy practices and
family development, improve the nutritional status of young children, and
increase the use of health services by the houschold-beneficiary. The health
grant is a fixed amount and does not depend on the number of members in the
household.

2, A maximum of three (3) children per qualified houschold-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 (PhP3,000.00) per a 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 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 10-
month school year.

In the event that the child is already above 18 years old but is enrolled in
or still wishes to continue his/her elementary or secondary education, he/she
shall be provided with the education grant until senior high school is
completed.


SEC. 8. Conditions for Entitlement. - All qualified houschold-
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 de-worming
pills at least twice a year;

¢. children three (3) to five (5) years old must attend day care or pre-
school classes at least fifty percent (50%) of the time;

d. 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 of the houschold-beneficiary must
attend family development sessions conducted by the DSWD, at least once a
month;

SEC. 9, Forfeiture of Grant. - The payment of cash grants will be
terminated if a household-beneficiary no longer meets the eligibility criteria
provided in Section 6 of this Act and/or does not comply with the conditions
set forth in Section 8 of this Act.

The responsible person of a reported qualified houschold-beneficiary who
fails to comply with the conditions set forth in Section 8 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 household-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. 10. 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 bi-monthly
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. 11. Periodic Assessment. — The amounts indicated in Section 7
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 socio-economic conditions existing at the time. The DSWD
4


shall ensure that the grant rates are sufficient to make a positive impact on the
health, nutrition and education of grantees: provided, that DSWD shall ensure
that the grant will not serve as disincentive for family members to work and
improve their economic conditions.

SEC. 12, Lead Agency. - The DSWD shall serve as the central planning,
coordinating, implementing and monitoring body of the program.

In the implementation of this Act, the Department 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 household-beneficiaries on the basis of a
uniform, objective and transparent selection process;

¢. conduct seminar-workshops and training programs in order to ensure
qualified household-beneficiary awareness of the conditions and other actions
pertinent to this Act;

d. coordinate with different national and local agencies, including
organizations from the private sector to ensure full implementation of statutory
commitments herein;

€. 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;

f. 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

j. perform such other functions as may be necessary or incidental to the
proper implementation of the provisions of this Act.

To ensure the effective implementation of the program, the DSWD shall
closely coordinate with the Department of Education (DepEd) and the
Department of Health (DOH), as regards the household-beneficiaries’ availment
of education and health services.

SEC. 13. Program Monitoring and Evaluation — The DSWD, together
with the DepEd and DOH, shall conduct a periodic impact evaluation study to
assess the overall effectiveness of the program in meeting its health and
education objectives, and to address leakages to further improve the delivery of

5


the program. The Secretary of DSWD shall furnish a copy of the results of the
study to Congress.

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 Department of Education, Technical
Education and Skills Development Authority, Department of Health, Philippine
Health Insurance Corporation, Department of 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, 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 national level composed of representatives from
the private sector and Civil Society Organizations (CSO) 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. Sustainability and Convergence of Programs and Services.
~ A multi-stakeholder and inter-agency convergence of programs and services
shall be implemented, focusing on the different needs of the houschold-
beneficiaries during their coverage under the program, beyond education and
health services, and preparing the houschold-beneficiaries for their transition
after the maximum limit for the receipt of the cash grant, or any earlier exit
from the program. The convergence of programs and services, and the
preparation and implementation of a transition program, shall focus on the
enhancement of operational efficiency and strengthening of inter-agency
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.

SEC. 18. Grievance Redress System ~The Department shall develop a
Grievance Redress System that will address complaints regarding
implementation of this program.

SEC. 19. Penalty. ~The following penalties shall be imposed:

A fine of five thousand peso (P5,000) and suspension for two (2) weeks
without pay in addition to any administrative penalty that may be imposed
shall be levied to a social workers who threatens to remove the beneficiaries or
offer to include non qualified beneficiaries;

A fine of ten thousand peso (P10,000) or the penalty of arresto mayor
shall be levied to a government employee or local government official who uses

6


his or her position to include or remove beneficiaries in exchange for other
services not included as conditionalities of this Act;

A fine of five thousand peso (P5,000) and removal from the program shall
be levied to a beneficiaries who will transfers his or her grant under the
program thought fraudulent or deceitful means against the government;

A fine of five thousand peso (P5,000) in addition to administrative penalty
that may be imposed, and suspension for two (2) weeks if he or she is a
government employee, shall be levied to any individual who will falsifies
information or aids in the falsification with a purpose of manipulating
compliance of the conditionalities for the cash transfer.

SEC. 20. 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 will likewise determine
inherent weaknesses in the law and recommend necessary remedial legislation
or executive measures.

SEC. 21. Implementing Rules and Regulations. - Within thirty (30)
days 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. 22. Separability Clause. - If any provision or part of this Act is
held unconstitutional or invalid, the remaining parts or provisions not affected
shall remain in full force and effect.

SEC. 23. 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. 24. Effectivity. — This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its
publication in the Official Gazette or in a newspaper of general circulation.

Approved,