ZAMBOANGA PENINSULA— The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) started registering new household beneficiaries to the country’s conditional cash transfer program, the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) last February 24, this year.

The regional program management office of the 4Ps conducted the pilot registration in Barangay Latuan in Zamboanga City. Out of the targeted 90 potential beneficiaries in the said barangay, 50 households came up for the validation activity.

For Zamboanga City and Isabela City, a total of 20,119 new households are targeted to be included in the 4Ps program.

“The registration of new members to the 4Ps will already be a regular activity since we have beneficiaries that graduate from the program periodically,” DSWD-9 Regional Director, Riduan P. Hadjimuddin said.

It can be recalled that more than 8,000 beneficiaries have already graduated from the program as of 2022. Beneficiaries that sustain Self-Sufficiency level and those that no longer have qualified dependents will be recommended for graduation or exiting. These graduates will be replaced by new members who qualify in the program according to the database of the Listahanan.

The Listahanan, a project that determines who and where the poor are, launched the database of poor households in Region 9 last December 2022. Those who were identified as poor based on the 2019-2020 household assessment were recommended to be included in various social welfare services such as the 4Ps, among others.

The DSWD has already posted the list of potential beneficiaries in every barangay for public checking. The listed households are advised to comply with the requirements as mentioned in the list.

A community assembly and/or house to house validation in all cities and municipalities with potential beneficiaries based on the Listahanan database will be conducted soon following this pilot registration.

“It is essential that we conduct a validation activity to ensure that only eligible poor families are included in the 4Ps,” Director Hadjimuddin added.

Furthermore, a pilot registration was also conducted on the same day (February 24) in Barangay Uno (Poblacion) and Barangay Dos (Poblacion) in Katipunan, Zamboanga Del Norte with a target of 99 potential family-beneficiaries.