MANILA – A lawmaker on Tuesday credited the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) for significantly contributing to the 26-percent drop in the number of child laborers in the country.
In a statement ahead of the culmination of National Children’s Month, Quezon City Rep. Marvin Rillo said the government’s conditional cash transfer program has encouraged many poor families to enroll their kids in school.
“There’s no question that the 4Ps is slowly but surely helping to put and retain more children in school, where they should be, to obtain a proper education,” Rillo said.
The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) recently reported a sharp decrease in the number of working children aged 5 to 17 years, from 1.48 million in 2022 to 1.09 million in 2023.
Rillo said the 4Ps’ requirement for children to attend school has been crucial in this decline.
The 4Ps cash grants to impoverished households on the condition that beneficiaries meet specific requirements, including enrolling their children in school, attending family development sessions, and ensuring regular health check-ups.
Rillo noted that the proposed national budget for 2025, approved by the House of Representatives, includes a PHP114.2 billion allocation for 4Ps cash grants, a PHP7.9 billion increase from the current year’s PHP106.3 billion funding.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development’s program, which supports 4.4 million households, provides monthly subsidies ranging from PHP300 to PHP700 per child, depending on their educational level, for up to 10 months each year.
Additionally, it offers PHP750 per month for health and nutrition and a PHP600 monthly rice subsidy. (PNA)