DSWD inks MOA with ARMM on intensified 4Ps program

March 17, 2009

COTABATO CITY – The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has forged with the new leadership of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao a memorandum of agreement to ensure an intensified implementation of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) in the poverty-laden ARMM communities.

DSWD Secretary Celia C. Yangco and acting ARMM Governor Ansaruddin Alonto-Adiong signed the MOA at the unprecedented meeting Monday in Metro Manila of officials of over a dozen foreign donor-organizations and institutions and executives of the regional autonomous government.

In her brief speech, Sec. Yangco said the forging of the MOA was meant to replicate if not enhance in the autonomous region the 4Ps implementation mode and ensure effective poverty-alleviation efforts especially in the conflict areas of ARMM.

The 4Ps, one of major anti-poverty government interventions, is a five-year program of the Arroyo administration launched in 2008 through the DSWD amid the global economic meltdown.

It is funded by international donors including American Development Fund, World Bank, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), whose officials in the country attended the Monday’s foreign donors’ meeting with ARMM officials.

It provides small cash grants to identified extremely poor families with the condition that the money will be spent for health and education of their children particularly from zero-to-fourteen (0-14) years of age.

In ARMM where the country’s highest rate of malnutrition and school dropouts has been recorded, the program has gained momentum with the recent creation of the advisory committee (RAC) to intensify efforts against poverty and improve the health, nutrition, education and economic condition of the local populace.

The DSWD leads the RAC with the Department of Health (DOH), Department of Education (DepEd), Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), the Regional Development Planning Office (RPDO) and the ARMM’s Bureau of Public Information (BPI) as members.

The RAC aims to effectively implement the 4Ps and translate national policies into region-specific operational guidelines, according to DSWD-ARMM acting Secretary Pombae Kader, who witnessed Monday’s MOA signing rites alongside other regional cabinet members.

In his response speech, acting Governor Adiong said the forging of the MOA would further boost the operations of the RAC in carrying out efforts prescribed under the 4Ps.

“With everything in place, we can no reason for gray areas in ARMM areas as far as the 4Ps implementation is concerned," Adiong stressed.

In an interview, Asec. Kader said the 4Ps has targeted 92,000 families in the region, each earmarked with P1,400 monthly subsidy for five years for health services and education of three (3) children. Each child will have P300 education or a total of P900 for the three children while the P500 will be used for the family’s basic health service.

As of August 2009 nation-wide, the program increased its target beneficiaries from 700,000 to one million households in 2008, entailing the government to increase its budget from P5-billion to P10 billion, a DSWD report said.

In the ARMM, as of August 2009, the program then covered 15 towns, serving some 30,000 households that received roughly P58 million, the report said, adding that 57 more towns and approximately 70,000 households are targeted in the region in five years. (Ali Macabalang / BPI-ARMM)