DAGUPAN CITY, Aug. 5 (PNA)–A senior official of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has belied an intrigue being peddled by persons or groups that the cash grants under the Pantawid Pamilya Pilipino Program (4Ps) are a bonus from politicians.
DSWD Assistant Secretary Javier Jimenez, in news conference on Aug. 5 at the office of the Philippine Information Agency (PIA), said he was ordered by Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman to go to five provinces to correct the misinformation that is spreading in those areas that the cash grants under the 4Ps came from a politician or a bonus from him.
The misinformation, Javier said, were spread during the over-the-counter payouts of beneficiaries in certain towns in Pampanga, Zambales, Pangasinan and Zamboanga.
“We have to correct this early otherwise if done at a later date, the people, especially the 4Ps beneficiaries might believe it,” Jimenez said.
He first came from Pampanga and Zambales before coming to Pangasinan, talking over local radio and television stations, holding press conferences and giving press interviews with in order to belie the misinformation.
Jimenez said the cash grants of 4Ps came from the General Appropriations Act or national budget approved by the House of Representatives as well as the Philippine Senate and not from any politician or group.
The national budget is being funded by taxes collected from the people by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and other collection arms of the government remitted regularly to the national coffer.
Therefore, politicians can not claim that the 4Ps program is theirs nor are empowered to put names in the list or remove names from the list, which only the DSWD can.
The program started in 2008 which continued in 2010 when the beneficiaries nationwide were only some 700,000 with cash outlay of Php 10 billion. Per 2015 records, there are already 4.4 million beneficiaries and cash outlay of Php62 billion.
In Region 1, there are now 203,489 beneficiaries funded at Php 2.5 billion. Pangasinan has to date a total of 123, 923 beneficiaries with cash grants totaling Php1.7 billion.
Jimenez said DSWD noted that some beneficiaries were pawning their Automated Teller Machine (ATM) cards and indulged in gambling.
He said those found doing these were being given warnings and counseling for the first and second offense and automatic exit from the list if a third violation is committed.
“Our Secretary (Soliman) is very much concerned about the malicious rumor making it appear that the cash grant from4Ps is a bonus from politicians that is why she asked me to come down and bring to you the right information,” Jimenez said.
While in Pangasinan, he asked the media to be partners of DSWD in disseminating true informarion about the 4Ps. (PNA)