The Untold 4Ps Saga

This is the story of 4Ps beneficiaries and several P 20 bills. 

By Georgene Rhena P. Quilaton-Tambiga

                As proof of her family's abject poverty, Melissa*, 29, was chopping the young shoot of bananas for lunch. She was going to cook it with coconut milk and some vegetables to serve to her kids and husband.

                With her unstable income as charcoal maker, it is no wonder that their family is a beneficiary of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program(4Ps) or the Conditional Cash Transfer Program of the government which is implemented through the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

                Her two children, one just graduated from elementary school, the other will be fourth grader come June, are benefiting from the educational assistance that 4Ps provides. Each child receives P 300 per month.

Cash condition

                While 4Ps aims to "to provide cash assistance to the poor to alleviate their immediate needs1," beneficiaries in Barangay Punao, San Carlos City like Melissa said that a casual employee from the City Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWDO) collected P 20 from them for the "snacks" of DSWD employees who are facilitating the release of cash.

                Another beneficiary from the same barangay, Rowena Leduna, 42, told NRWP that the program's Local Government Unit Link who works hand-in-hand with the DSWD Region VI personnel ordered their parent leader to collect the said amount for the snacks of DSWD and Land Bank of the Philippines-San Carlos Branch employees on the schedule date of the release.

                Apart from the contribution for snacks, Leduna gave P 500 to the casual employee because she was told her name was deleted from the payroll sometime in January. "Te, delete man ka, Te, uy," the beneficiary recounted how the disappointing news was broken to her. She thought it really was possible because her husband was mistaken for a government employee when he actually is only a contractual carpenter for a private contractor who sometimes works on government projects.

Photographs of her house were taken and she was also asked for P 50 for photo printing. She was then promised that a Land Bank employee can place her name back on the payroll list if she gave P 500.

          In Barangay Punao, there are 325 official and active 4Ps beneficiaries. Since Punao has 18 sitios (community groups), there are about 12 active parent leaders. One among them, who asked for her not to be named, said the LGU-Link is Jonna Marie Portuguez. Portuguez was assigned to facilitate 4Ps beneficiaries in Punao and conduct meetings and discussions with them.

           Of the 31 member-beneficiaries under this parent leader, six were interviewed by NRWP and admitted to have contributed P 20 upon the request of Portuguez.

        "Gipaamot mi para palit ug pagkaon maoy ingon sa among lider," a 43-year old member with three children under the program said.

                However, none of them have seen the food which should have been bought using their contribution and they were not given any receipt. At present, no accounting of the contribution can be found.

                In Sitio Tunga, Barangay Palampas, Maria*, 30, said she contributed P 10 for the "visitors from DSWD" during the latest grant release schedule, February 29, this year. She recalled that when they were not yet given Land Bank ATM cards, they were also asked to contribute the same amount for the facilitators at the City Auditorium. With difficulty, she recalled that it was one called "Ma'am Juliet" who ordered for the contribution.

                Barangay Palampas beneficiaries are also divided into several parent leaders. In Maria's group there are 35.

The sanction

                Cynthia Mirande, CSWDO head, told NRWP that the problem had already been dealt with. Mirande had gone to Barangay Punao, sometime March 5 and gathered the involved beneficiaries for a discussion with Portuguez. During the discussion, with Punao Barangay Captain Pacquito Abadies present, the beneficiaries told Mirande that they indeed contributed P 20 upon the request of the LGU-Link which was channeled through the parent leader.

                Mirande said Portuguez "denied" the accusations. After the investigation, the involved employee was not suspended, nor asked to return the amounts that the beneficiaries contributed. The only resolution that CSWDO has reached was that Portuguez was pulled out from the field assignment and she is now assigned in the 4Ps Office, Villa Consuelo Alger Community Center where documents of the 6, 229 San Carlos beneficiaries are sorted, assessed, and filed.

                "Wala sya natang-tang. We are giving her the chance. Assigned [sya karon] sa office," Mirande said. Asked if a case will be filed against the said employee, the CSWDO head said that no one will file the case because in the first place the offended beneficiaries were not even aware that the collection was illegal. She deems that pulling Portuguez out from the field assignment is enough sanction.

                On the other side of the house, complainants claimed that their contributions were not given back to them and they were not even informed if a sanction had befallen on Portuguez.

                Mirande however admitted that 4Ps provisions strictly prohibit social workers, regular or casual, from collecting any amount from the beneficiaries.

                Whether the said casual employee is guilty or not, the complainants could argue that the act is "Directly or indirectly requesting or receiving any gift, present, share, percentage, or benefit, for himself or for any other person in connection with any contract or transaction between the Government and any other party, wherein the public officer in his official capacity has to intervene under the law."              

                This, according to Republic Act No. 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, Section 3 (b) is a "corrupt practice."

                The investigation may not have ended in a case of malversation of public funds as provided by the Revised Penal Code because some of the beneficiaries who attended the barangay discussion hesitated to tell that they were made to contribute. A source said they were briefed prior to the meeting to say that they gave P 20 "voluntarily."

                But, Emilia*, 29, with three kids in 4Ps, shook her head when asked if it really was given out of their own will. "Gipangayuan gyud mi. Dili voluntary. Diha-diha gyud ang deadline kay basig dili unya mi ma-releasan sa kwarta." Emilia said, bitterness lined the timber of her voice as she recalled the hunger she and her fellows suffered while waiting for the cash to finally fall on their hands.

                In the end, there is no doubt that 4Ps is one magnanimous act by the government that is changing the lives of thousands of Filipinos. With its two-fold objective of providing cash grants for poverty alleviation and social development to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of the United Nations, it is a major leap in Philippine social welfare. But, whoever says that it already is a clean slate by which the government, using its DSWD arm, is already writing a corruption-free story, must be wrong.

*Name withheld upon the request of the source.
On-line source:

1 pantawid.dswd.gov.ph