HOUSE Committee on Public Accounts discovered that around 600,000 beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program or 4Ps have not received their educational grants for 2023 due to significant budget cuts.

During the committee hearing chaired by Rep. Joseph Stephen PaduanO, it was known that the budget cuts were initiated by Senator Imee Marcos.

Department of Social Welfare and Development representatives disclosed the need for P3.9 billion to cover the 2023 educational grants for 667,608 4Ps beneficiaries.

DSWD officials explained that the earlier projected deficit of P9.5 billion for the 2023 4Ps program—comprising P6.5 billion for educational grants and P3 billion for rice subsidies—was based on initial estimates, which have now been corrected with validated beneficiary data.

“Na-confirm na po natin na nung nakaraang budget season tinapyasan ng P8 bilyon po ng sponsor ng budget sa Senate ng DSWD ni Sen. Imee Marcos. And it wasn’t fair dahil ang utilization rate at that time, allegedly was at 45 percent pero kalahati lang ng payment cycle ang kinonsider natin,” said 4PS Party-list Rep. Jonathan Clement Abalos.

“The big issue now is the availability of cash on hand. So paano po natin mapapaglilingkuran ang ating mga benepisyaryo na hindi pa nakakatanggap ng cash grant mula last year mula nung sila ay ma-reassessed?” Abalos added.

The solon also stressed that the DSWD was still validating the list of 4Ps beneficiaries and could only pay those who had been confirmed as qualified recipients of the educational grant.

Paduano also highlighted that the DSWD had promised stakeholders they would retroactively pay the qualified household beneficiaries once the list was validated.

“However, since the DSWD’s budget has been decreased, they could not fulfill this duty and promise unless we find solutions now,” he emphasized.

Aside from the P3.9 billion deficit for 2023, a projected P6.5 billion deficit for the 4Ps program is anticipated for 2024.