HOUSE 0F REPRESENTATIVES
RECEIVED
30'IN?
Republic of the Philippines DATE:

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES — tnve:_// 27,
Quezon City BY!

SEVENTEENTH CONGRES!

RATION UNIT
First Regular Session peaisT

BILLS AND INDEX SERVICE

699

House Bill No. __

Introduced by Representative GLORIA MACAPAGAL ARROYO

AN ACT
INSTITUTIONALIZING THE PANTAWID PAMILYANG PILIPINO PROGRAM (4Ps)

TO REDUCE POVERTY AND PROMOTE HUMAN CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT AND
PROVIDING FUNDS THEREFOR

TORY NOTE
Mass poverty is perennial problem of emerging economies like the Philippines.

Abject poverty and extreme want sap the human being of dignity and limit the capacity to
live a full life, thus, the need to constantly come up with institutional and operational
innovations to alleviate poverty.

Governments continue to formulate and design sustainable and comprehensive programs
to keep poverty at a minimum level, if not to eradicate it altogether. These programs
consider the need to deliver adequate basic services, such as food security, income security,
education, functional literacy, and health care services,

Short term and long term strategies and programs were designed in the past

administration to impact on lives of the extremely poor such as the Pantawid Pamilyang
Pilipino Program (4Ps).

‘The 4Ps is a flagship anti poverty program of the government that grants conditional cash
subsidy to the poorest households in the country to improve their health, nutrition and
education. The program is basically intended to immediately impact on the poverty
situation of the poorest families by granting them conditional cash benefits and in the long
term, break the vicious of poverty by investing in human capital such as sending the
children to school and bringing them to health care centers on a regular basis.

‘The 4Ps is patterned after the Latin American Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) Programs,
the largest of which is Bolsa Familia Program (Bolsa Familia)

The 4Ps, our own version of the Bolsa Familia, contributes to alleviating the poverty
situation of target beneficiaries, especially the extremely poor Filipinos. By investing in
human capital, this program has the potential to break the backbone of poverty in the
country and create opportunities to live a full, productive and meaningful life.



Said bill was approved on the Third Reading at the House of Representatives on Feb 01,
2016. It was sent to Senate on February 04, 2016.

The early passage of this bill is strongly recommended.

GLORIA MACAPAGAL ARROYO
24 District, Pampanga


Republic of the Phi
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

6399

House Bill No.

Introduced by Representative GLORIA MACAPAGAL ARROYO

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) Reduce child mortality; and

e) 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;


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 (4Ps);

©) 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;

e) Grantee refers to the most responsible adult member of the 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;

8) Health facility refers to a barangay health station, rural health unit or primary
hospital

h) Heath 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;

j) 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;

1) Qualified household-beneficiaries refers 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 the 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 (PS00.00) 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;

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

e) Pregnant women must avail of pre and post-natal care and give birth with the
assistance of 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) Atleast one (1) responsible person must plant trees in the surroundings; and

j) Atleast 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 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 with 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 or 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 shall 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 household-beneficiaries on the basis of a uniform,
objective and transparent selection process;

6


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 mission, 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 the imprisonment of not less than one (1)
month but not more than six (6) months, or a fine or not less than ten thousand pesos
(P10,000.00) but not more than twenty thousand pesos (P20,000.00), or both
imprisonment, 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 the 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 provisions, or part hereof, is held invalid or
unconstitutional, the remainder of the law of the provision not otherwise affected shall
remain valid and subsisting.

SEC. 22. Repealing Clause. ~ All laws, decrees, executive orders, rules and regulations
inconsistent with this Act are hereby repealed, amended or modified accordingly.

SEC. 23. Effectivity Clause. - This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days following its
complete publication in the Official Gazette or in two (2) newspapers of general circulation.

Approved,