The tough-talking mayor of Davao City and considered as social media’s most popular presidential candidate Mayor Rodrigo Duterte promised to expand the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) by giving at least a sack of rice to the poorest of the poor in the Philippines.
The 4Ps program of the conditional cash transfer (CCT) Program was first introduced by Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago during the year 2007 and was implemented by the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
There is no truth about the claims of the Aquino administration, particularly Mar Roxas claims that 4Ps will not continue once he will not be elected as President in 2016. The Aquino administration only expanded the CCT which was patterned from similar programs in Latin American countries such as Bolsa Familia in Brazil, Familias en Accion in Colombia and OPORTUNIDADES in Mexico.
Meanwhile during Mayor Duterte’s visit in his hometown, he vowed that if he will be elected in the 2016 national elections, he would make sure that the monthly supply of a sack of rice would be on top of what the country’s poor are receiving as part of a planned expanded program for the poor.
According to the 70-year-old Mayor Duterte, the poor should receive more than what they are actually getting from 4Ps now, which he said is not enough. The program seeks to eradicate extreme poverty by providing cash assistance to the poorest of the poor.
Mayor Duterte also revealed that the possible sources of funds for the supply of a sack of rice would be income derived from sin taxes. He pushed for a good grading system for basic goods such as vegetables to increase the precision of the price formation process.