Former and active beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) from the Cordillera Administrative Region continue to serve their communities after they were proclaimed as Barangay Officials in the recently concluded Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) 2023. 

In the entire region, at least 1,711 4Ps households were elected as Barangay Officials. 67 were Punong Barangay and 999 got the post of Barangay Kagawad. For the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK), 120 were elected as SK Chairperson, and 525 were SK Kagawad. 

Benedicto Dinamling, one of the elected Barangay Kagawad in the town of Kiangan Ifugao and the household head of this year’s Huwarang 4Ps family got his last term as Kagawad of Barangay Pindongan. 

“Gapu iti partisipasyon ken exposure me iti aktibidad ti 4Ps ket naempower ak ken naikkan ak manen iti maudi a tsansa nga agserbi iti barangay me. Dakkel iti naitulong dagiyay naad-addal me iti binulan a FDS ta agbalbalin daytoy a guide me iti panagserbi me iti komunidad me (Because of our exposure to the activities of 4Ps, I was empowered and given the last term to serve our Barangay. The learnings we got from the monthly FDS of the program are big help because this guides us in serving our community),” Dinamling shared. 

Dinamling started his career as a Barangay Kagawad in 2013. In his almost ten years in the service, he has been the Barangay Committee Chair on Social Services and one of his advocacies is safeguarding the welfare of the Out of School Youths (OSY) by pushing programs in getting them back to school through the Alternative Learning System modalities, among many other advocacies on the children and youth empowerment. 

Late October this year, the Dinamling family was among the validated noon-poor based on the result of Listahanan 3 and assessed as Level 3 (Self Sufficient) in the latest Social Welfare and Development Indicator (SWDI). This means that the household is no longer an active member of the program and no longer eligible to receive cash grants.

On the other hand, the Province of Abra got the highest number of elected 4Ps beneficiaries with 746, followed by the Provinces of Ifugao and Mountain Province with 386 and 278, respectively. 

“We are elated that many of our former and active 4Ps beneficiaries are now partners of the DSWD at the barangay level. Aside from investing in the health, nutrition, and education of our beneficiaries, we can see social development among them which is the long-term goal of the 4Ps for its beneficiaries—for them to be empowered and be a leader and serve as agent of change in their communities,” DSWD FO CAR Regional Director Leo L. Quintilla said. 

The DSWD emphasizes that once a beneficiary is elected as barangay official, this does not immediately disqualify them as beneficiary of the program. They have to undergo assessment through the Social Welfare and Development Indicator (SWDI), a tool being used by the program to evaluate and monitor the level of well-being or life improvement of the 4Ps households (HHs). 

Apart from the SWDI, the other qualifications for the exit of HHs from the program based on the Implementing Rules and Regulations XV, Section 34 of the Republic Act 11310 are: a) the last monitored child in the household turns 19 years old and / or finishes high school; b) the household reaches the 7-year duration in the program; c) the household voluntary waives its rights and privileges from the program; and d) the household is persistently non-compliant to the program conditions. 

As of October 2023, the program monitors 57,390 HH beneficiaries in the Cordillera for their compliance to program conditions on education, health, nutrition, and attendance to monthly family development sessions. 

The 4Ps was institutionalized in 2019 by virtue of Republic Act 11310 as the government’s major poverty alleviation program that invests in the health, nutrition, education, and psycho-social development of the beneficiaries. The program ensures that the beneficiaries will have the capacity to live a decent life and are ready to exit within seven years as mandated by the law. ### DSWD-CAR Social Marketing Unit – Marlo C. Abyado Jr., 4Ps Information Officer