Thirteen percent or P12.7 billion of the P94 billion budget of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program or 4P's has already been disbursed, Social Welfare and Development Secretary Rex Gatchalian said on Thursday.
The statement was presented during the House Appropriations Panel hearing on the DSWD's proposed P207 billion budget for 2024.
Gatchalian admitted that the 13.46 percent disbursement rate is low because the government agency is still completing the validation and assessment of the 4P beneficiaries.
"Of the P94.3 billion budget for 4Ps for 2023, 30.74% have been obligated while the disbursement rate is at 13.46%. Admittedly, this is a bit low because we are completing the validation and further assessment of the 4Ps beneficiaries tagged non-poor under Listahanan 3," the Secretary said.
He clarified that this is only temporary and that, in fact, they are speeding up the validation of the remaining households in Listahan 3 based on social welfare development indicators.
"Let me explain that this low utilization is a temporary state since we are fast-tracking the validation of existing households who are tagged non-poor by recent Listahanan 3," Gatchalian said.
Meanwhile, he said that the target number will remain at 4.4 million households even after they filter the list and hopefully "to complete the assessment process by September 2023 to determine the eligibility of the households, whether they will be retained as beneficiaries or they will exit the program."
The DSWD projects a clean list of beneficiary households by October to November this year and will maintain it until December 2023.
"By then, a total of P96.55 billion, inclusive of incremental operating costs, will be obligated, which will translate to a 94% utilization rate," he noted.
