The December survey also indicates that 10.2% of poor families were "newly poor," having been non-poor within the past four years.
THE Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) announced on Wednesday that around 1.4 million families have successfully “graduated” from the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) since 2022, marking significant progress in reducing poverty among Filipino households.
As part of a revised anti-poverty strategy under the Marcos administration, the government will not expand the program beyond previous levels but will instead restore 500,000 beneficiaries who exited the initiative after their economic status improved or they no longer met eligibility criteria. DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian clarified that this adjustment is simply a replenishment process, not an increase in the number of families receiving assistance.
In an interview with Unang Hirit, Gatchalian explained that the program previously covered 4.4 million households, but 1.4 million families have left the roster because their living conditions have advanced beyond poverty thresholds.
“We are not adding beneficiaries. We are only restoring them,” he stated, emphasizing that these families were removed precisely because their situations had improved. “It means their lives improved, they no longer had children attending school, so they were removed from the program,” he added, noting that participation in 4Ps requires compliance with conditions such as sending children to school and attending regular health check-ups.
The decision to include 500,000 new households is based on updated poverty statistics released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA). Gatchalian confirmed that these selections are strictly guided by official survey data, which identifies families still classified as poor.
While he recognized that some individuals may report difficulties in their daily lives despite national data showing lower poverty rates, he stressed that data remains an essential basis for policy decisions. “We do not discount the experiences of those who say life has become harder for them,” he said, “but of course, we also need to rely on data as basis.”
Gatchalian also addressed concerns about transparency and fairness in beneficiary selection, asserting that local officials and barangay leaders have no role in forming the list of recipients.
“The PSA provides the data based on their national survey every three years, and we are the ones who approach qualified families,” he explained. He firmly denied allegations of political bias or favoritism, stating that the process is purely based on objective criteria. Under the program, eligible households receive conditional cash grants amounting to up to ₱3,500 monthly, with assistance tied to compliance in education and health requirements — core components that Gatchalian described as the foundation of the program’s purpose to build better futures for poor families.
