Is 4Ps Targeting the ‘Right Poor’? New Study Says Yes but…

By Jose Mari Garcia

✅ Nine out of 10 4Ps beneficiaries come from the poorest 50% of Filipino households.

❌ Urban targeting lags significantly behind rural accuracy, reaching only about 40%.

❌ The database “may not all be really poor.”

A new study by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) found that the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) is successfully reaching its intended demographic, with 90% of beneficiaries among the poorest half of the population.

Despite this, the research highlights persistent flaws in the program’s ability to keep up with the changing socio-economic status of households.

Mandated by Republic Act No. 11310, the 4Ps aims to break the intergenerational cycle of poverty through conditional cash grants for health and education.

The latest PIDS study, presented on May 22, 2025, assessed whether the program’s targeting mechanism, primarily using the Listahanan database, accurately identifies the “right” poor.

High Data Accuracy

The study praised the accuracy of static data—such as names, birthdays, and household addresses—which scored 99%.

It also highlighted government initiatives to enhance data systems, including the upcoming Dynamic Social Registry, or iRegistro of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), which will enable real-time beneficiary information updates across programs.

DSWD has started piloting online and self-service updates, letting beneficiaries verify their data through the Philippine national ID system.

These innovations aim to reduce errors and make beneficiary tracking more responsive to real-world changes like employment shifts or household relocation.

But Urban Targeting is Low

However, dynamic data—such as income, employment, and education status—only scored 71%–76% in accuracy due to the program’s inability to keep pace with rapid life changes.

Urban areas showed much poorer targeting accuracy compared to rural ones, with only about 40% of urban households correctly identified as poor.

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) is transitioning to the Community-Based Monitoring System (CBMS), which integrates national ID verification to improve targeting precision.

What Do They Get?

Legislators have raised concerns about inclusion and exclusion errors, urging interagency collaboration and stronger support for families “graduating” from the program.

As the flagship poverty alleviation program of the national government, 4Ps provides conditional cash grants, ranging from around PHP2,000 to PHP3,000 monthly depending on the family situation, to the poorest of the poor to improve the health, nutrition, and the education of children aged 0-18.

The program is supporting almost nine million children to help them attend school and keep them healthy, DSWD reported in February.

As of December 2024, around of 1.2 million senior citizens, 300,000 solo parents, 270,000 indigenous peoples, and 50,00 persons with disability were among the 4Ps beneficiaries.

The monthly cash grant is broken down as follows:

• Health - PHP750

• Rice - PHP600.00 per month

• Education (maximum of three children per household)

  • PHP300 per child in elementary

  • PHP500 per child in junior high school

  • PHP700 per child in senior high school.

Despite existing for 18 years since 2007, the 4Ps grant has not overcome criticisms due to the program’s database, which PIDS noted “may not all be really poor… but they are still low-income,” citing the need for better strategies to target the right poor. (OnPoint)