Poor families to get P800 monthly subsidy
More than 123,000 poor families will be given a monthly subsidy of P800 by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) starting next month to encourage them to bring their children to health centers and enroll them in public schools.
Social Welfare and Development Secretary Esperanza Cabral said a household is entitled to P6,000 a year or P500 per month for a preventive health checkup and vaccines under project “Ahon Pamilyang Pinoy” (APP).
On the other hand, the education cash grant is P3,000 for 10 months or P300 monthly per child or maximum of three children per household, she added.
Cabral said a family benefiting from the project must have a maximum of three children and an annual income of P15, 000.
“It aims to break the poverty cycle by addressing the issue of low educational achievement, high levels of maternal and infant mortality rates, high malnutrition rate and rate of child labor among the poor,” she said.
Cabral said the program is being piloted in the municipalities of Esperanza and Sibagat in Agusan del Sur; Lopez Jaena and Bonifacio in Misamis Occidental; the cities of Pasay and Caloocan in Metro Manila, where 6,000 households are expected to benefit.
“We have chosen these areas primarily because they are already identified poor families and we have monitoring system in these areas,” she said.
Cabral said the project “Ahon Pamilyang Pinoy” has a budget of P75 million for its pilot stage.
It will increase to P200 to P300 million in 2008, and further increase as they expand the program in 2009, she added.
Cabral said the student-beneficiaries would be monitored based on their attendance in school and records from health centers.
The project was planned for implementation until 2012, she added.
A similar program is being implemented in many other countries like
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