The Valenzuela City Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWDO) reminded beneficiaries of Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) in Valenzuela City to refrain from pawning their cash cards.

 

CSWDO Officer-in-Charge, Ms. Dorothy Evangelista said that her office has received reports about beneficiaries borrowing money from “loan sharks” with their cash cards as collateral.  As consequence they become willing victims to the high interests charged against the small amount that they receive from the program.

 

The office is now intensifying efforts to instill on beneficiaries the purpose of the program to keep them from pawning their cash cards.

 

The Pantawild Pamilya, also known as Conditional Cash Transfer, started in 2008 as a poverty-alleviation program of the national government. The program selects families who most need assistance and provides them with a minimum monthly stipend of PhP 800: PhP 500 for health and nutrition, and PhP 300 for the education of children aged three to 14.

 

“Kapag nalaman po namin na isinasangla ninyo, talagang tatangalin namin kayo sa programa (If we found out that you are guilty of it, we will remove you from the program),” Evangelist said during the seminar among 4Ps beneficiaries from Barangay Malinta last weekend

 

Focal person for 4PS, Ms. Arian Grace Jovena said the erring beneficiaries were ordered to withdraw their cards from the pawnbrokers but were not removed from the program  “Kinausap din namin ang mga nagpapautang na huwag na ulit tumanggap ng cash cards. (We told the pawnbrokers not to accept the cash cards anymore),” she added.

 

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) disburses the stipend to beneficiaries through various means, the Land Bank cash card being the most common.

 

To remain in the program, beneficiaries have to fulfill particular responsibilities, such as, sending the children to day care, elementary and high school, and having regular checkups at health centers.

 

The DSWD report shows that around 3.9 million families across the country are enrolled in the program as of March 31, 2013. In Valenzuela City, beneficiary families are at 11,288.

 

Around 3,000 families nationwide have been removed from the program due to fraudulent acts, none of them from Valenzuela City.

 

The DWSD NCR Regional Office distributed the cash cards of newest batch of 7,454 Valenzuela City beneficiary families from July 11 to 18.