HOUSE OF REPRE! ENTATIVES

RECEIVED
Republic of the Philippines DATE: ,
House of Representatives Lucas
Quezon City, Metro Manila Twe: 3
By:
SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS

First Regular Session REGISTRATION UNrT

BILLS AND inoEX SERVICE

HOUSE BILLNO. 904

Introduced by: Representative Salvio B. Fortuno

EXPLANATORY NOTE

This bill seeks to institutionalize the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino
Program more popularly known as 4Ps.

The 4Ps, which is a development program designed to promote
investment in human capital among poor families with 0-14 years old
children, intends to address the following:

a) Reducing extreme poverty and hunger

b) Achieving universal primary education

c) Reducing child mortality

d) Improving maternal health

) Promoting gender equality and empowering women

The 4Ps was patterned after the conditional cash transfer programs
in Latin American and African countries which have been proven
successful as a poverty reduction and social development measure. It
can also be safely claimed that it has gained wide support from all sectors
of society in the Philippines as can be gleaned from the numerous bills
filed in the House of Representatives during the 16! Congress, which were
referred to the Committee on Poverty Alleviation, of which this humble
representation was its Chairperson. However, due to lack of material time,
this bill did not see the light of day to the detriment of the extremely poor
beneficiaries.

There is an urgent need therefore to act favorably with dispatch on this
important piece of legislation that will greatly benefit those in the margins
of our society.

9

Gane, ¢

B. FORTUN
Repfesentative

Fifth Distyict, Camarines Sur


Republic of the Philippines
House of Representatives
Quezon City, Metro Manila

SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

HOUSE BILL NO. $01

Introduced by: Representative Salvio B. Fortuno

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;

(c) Promote gender equality and empowerment of women;

(d) Achieve universal primary education;

(f) Reduce child mortality; and

(g) Improve maternal health


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

(a) Case Management refers toa 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 to
ensure that the qualified household-beneficiaries comply with conditions for
entitlement set forth by the program;

(c) Conditional Cash Grant refers to the amount being received by the
qualified household-beneficiaries who comply with 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;

(e) 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 concems 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 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

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

(k) 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;

(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 adopted by the national government
agencies and being 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 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)

This 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 (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.

A maximum of three (3) children per qualified household-beneficiary shall
be given conditional cash grant 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;

(c) 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;

‘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 0 to 5 years old must receive regular preventive health check-
ups and vaccinations;

(b) Children 6 to below 14 years old must avail of de-worming pills at least
twice a year:

(c) Children 3 to 5 years old must attend day care or pre-school 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;

(e) Pregnant women must get a pre- and post natal care and be attended
by a skilled or trained health care professional during childbirth in a health facility

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

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

(i) At least one responsible person must plant trees in their surroundings;

and

(k) At least one responsible person must assist, help or participate in

bayanihan projects in their respective barangay or municipality;

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

Should the qualified household-beneficiary so notified persist in their
failure to comply as directed, the conditional cash grant shall be canceled after
one year of non-compliance.

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 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, money remittance services, conduit rural banks, and cooperatives.

SEC. 10. Periodic Assessment. - The amounts indicated in Section 6
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 shall
ensure that the grant rates are sufficient to make a positive impact on the health,
nutrition and education conditionalities: Provided, that 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 or livelihood programs required under Section 7
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-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 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;

(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

(d) 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;

(f) Recommend to the President measures and policies for the responsive
implementation 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 enforcement of the statutory commitments under 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 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. They 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 (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. Convergence of Programs and Services. - To ensure that the
targeted household-beneficiaries remain non-poor after the prescribed maximum
limit for receipt of the conditional cash grant, multi-stakeholder and inter-agency
convergence of programs and services shall be implemented. This shall focus on
the enhancement of operational efficiency and strengthening of inter-agency
partnerships for greater impact and sustainability of outcomes.

SEC. 17. Annual Appropriations. — Except for programs in Section 16,
The Secretary of Social Welfare and Development shall include in the DSWD's
program the implementation of this Act, the initial funding of which shall be
charged against the current year’s appropriations of the Pantawid Pamilyang
Pilipino Program (4Ps). Thereafter, the amount equivalent to not less than three
percent (3%) of approved budget in the General Appropriations Act is hereby
automatically appropriated to cover approximately sixty percent (60%) of the total
number of extremely poor in the Philippines, as may be determined by the
Philippine Statistics Authority at the time of the enactment of this Act.

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 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 found
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 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 referred to
as the 4Ps Committee, is hereby constituted. The 4Ps Committee shall be
composed of fourteen (14) members with the chairmen 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 guidelines and 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. 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, shall promulgate the
necessary rules and regulations to carry out the provisions of this Act.

SEC. 21. 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. 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 national newspaper of general
circulation

Approved,