17 more towns get into list, 4Ps now in 29 Bohol towns

By Rey Anthony H. Chiu

Wednesday 25th of April 2012

TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, April 25 (PIA) -- When school opens on June, 6,343 indigent families from 29 towns in Bohol are assured of benefits under the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps).

This after 17 more towns have been included in the Set 6 phase of the 4Ps grants in Bohol, said Aileen Lariba, regional information officer of the flagship social service program.

Speaking during the weekly Kapihan sa PIA, Lariba identified the 17 towns as Alburquerque, Antequera, Baclayon, Bilar, Corella, Cortes, Dauis, Dimiao, Garcia Hernandez, Jagna, Loay, Loboc, Maribojoc, Panglao, Sevilla, Sikatuna, and Tubigon.

For Set 6, Tubigon gets the most number of family beneficiaries at 949, followed by Jagna at 882, Garcia Hernandez (469), Bilar (465), and Dimiao (435), according to the list that Lariba provided.

More familiarly called as conditional cash transfer, the 4Ps picks out its beneficiaries based on the National Household Targeting System the country’s poorest of the poor who will benefit from the government assistance with attached conditions for compliance on their health and education.

Implemented by the Department of Social Welfare and Development, the 4Ps allows a family’s three school-aged kids to get an educational assistance of P300 each monthly. The parents must also make sure that their children attend 85 percent of school time; this ensures their monthly government support.

Another assistance is given to the family who has religiously attended the Family Development Sessions where key resource persons tutor family heads on tips about health and nutrition, community living and cooperation.

The towns of Alicia, Bien Unido, Buenavista, Carmen, Inabanga, Getafe, Mabini, Pilar, Carlos P Garcia, Trinidad, and Ubay had already been included in the third set of the 4Ps beneficiaries. The earlier beneficiaries were the towns of Guindulman, Candijay, Clarin, Duero, Lila, San Isidro, and Valencia.

The program had also crossed over to Anda, Balilihan, Batuan, Calape, Catigbian, Danao, Loon, Sagbayan, San Miguel, and then to Talibon, Tagbilaran City, and then Sierra Bullones.

This puts to almost 50,000 poor Boholano families availing of the government assistance. (RAHC-PIA 7, Bohol)