ZAMBOANGA PENINSULA— The country’s conditional cash transfer program, Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) under the DSWD, reinstates the physical attendance of its beneficiaries to the monthly Family Development Session (FDS) starting August 2022.

It can be recalled that the physical attendance to the FDS was discouraged by the DSWD since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic last 2020 to mitigate the spread of the deadly virus. Since then, the beneficiaries adopted 8 new modalities in order to still be able to deliver its mandate particularly on the empowering component of the program.

“Based on our survey with the beneficiaries, it has been found that they still prefer face-to-face meetings because many of our modules are really interactive,” says DSWD-9 Regional Director Atty. Sittie Raifah M. Pamaloy-Hassan.

The reinstatement of face-to-face FDS will still follow minimum safety protocols in line with Covid-19 mitigation as prescribed by health authorities. As such, the face-to-face FDS shall abide by the following provisions, in conformity to the Alert Level System Guidelines as detailed below:

Alert Level	Face-to-face Session Guidelines
1	100% capacity for fully vaccinated grantees/attendees.
2	Maximum of 50% indoor venue capacity for fully vaccinated grantees/attendees and 70% outdoor capacity.
3	Maximum of 30% indoor venue capacity for fully vaccinated grantees/attendees and 50% outdoor capacity.
4	Maximum of 10% indoor venue capacity for fully vaccinated grantees/attendees and 30% outdoor capacity.
5	No face-to-face sessions allowed.

As of today, 85.73% of the beneficiaries in Zamboanga Peninsula have already been vaccinated. The program further advocates the vaccination against Covid-19 to the rest of the remaining unvaccinated beneficiaries to achieve a 100% herd immunity.