Social Welfare Secretary Corazon “Dinky” Soliman Saturday stressed that the 4Ps (Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program) or conditional cash of the government to the poor is not a palliative solution to poverty, it keeps children in school and healthy to ensure that they have a better future.

The 4Ps breaks the inter-generational cycle of poverty of their families, because with an education the children have a better shot at finding jobs and less chances of becoming victims of abuse, said Soliman, who was in Bacolod for the second anniversary of the Negrense Volunteers for Change.

The 4Ps now covers 86,703 in Negros Occidental with the number increasing in 2013, she said.

It is the right of a child to go to school and be healthy, and if their parents cannot afford to provide this it is the duty of the state to help, Soliman added.

Already disbursed in Negros Occidental under the 4Ps since 2010 is P703,370,300 with P231,727 more to be released in the third and fourth quarter of this year, she said.

The poorest households in the towns are selected for coverage through the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction implemented by the Department of Social Welfare and Development, and they receive about P1,400 a month.

To avail of the cash grants, beneficiaries should comply with the following conditions: Pregnant women must avail of pre- and post-natal care and be attended during childbirth by a trained health professional; Parents must attend Family Development Sessions;

Children who are 0 to 5 years old must also receive regular preventive health check-ups and vaccines; 3 to 5-year-old children must attend daycare or pre-school classes at least 85 percent of the time; 6 to 14-year-old children must enroll in elementary or high school and must attend at least 85 percent of the time; and 6 to 14 years old children must receive deworming pills twice a year.

Soliman said the Aquino administration is focused on job generation, education for all children and universal health care.*CPG

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