A post on Facebook that beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) could not get their benefits or will be removed from the list if they will not vote the reelectionist governors and mayors in their areas is fake news.
The threat has been circulating in Mindanao provinces since last month, according to various Facebook accounts.
The 4Ps is the national government’s flagship conditional cash transfer program that aims to reduce poverty. It is implemented by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
No politician can remove 4Ps beneficiaries from the list, the DSWD stressed.
In its “Fake and Fact Sheet: Election InfoBriefer for Beneficiaries,” the social welfare department described as fake the following claims:
1). Any politician can add or delete my name from the list of Pantawid Pamilya beneficiaries.
2) I was not included in Pantawid Pamilya because I did not vote for a particular politician.
Here are the facts:
“Only the DSWD can recommend additional beneficiaries to the program based on the Listahanan (list) / NHTO (National Household Targeting Office) database. The household can only be removed from the program if it does not comply with the program conditions or does not have children eligible for monitoring.
Voting or supporting a political candidate has nothing to do in the inclusion and registration of
beneficiaries in the Pantawid Pamilya. The program is apolitical and has its own process.” https://pantawid.dswd.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Fake-vs-Fact_english.pdf
President Rodrigo Duterte institutionalized 4Ps by signing Republic Act 11310 or the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program Act on April 17, 2019. https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/downloads/2019/04apr/20190417-RA-11310-RRD.pdf
The 4Ps is a national poverty reduction strategy and a human capital investment program of the Philippine government, led by the DSWD, that invests in the health, nutrition and education of poor eligible households. https://pantawid.dswd.gov.ph/faqs/
Jailed Senator Leila de Lima, chair of the Committee on Social Justice, Welfare and Rural Development, sponsored Senate Bill 2117 during the Third Regular Session of the 17th Congress https://legacy.senate.gov.ph/lisdata/2906225648!.pdf. Senate Bill 2117 and House Bill 7773 became RA 11310.
Nuelle Duterte, a niece of President Duterte, was among those who flagged the false claim that politicians can remove beneficiaries who will not vote them from the 4Ps list. https://www.facebook.com/nuelle.dominguezduterte.5/posts/1104458683434057
As with all our other reports, MindaNews welcomes leads or suggestions from the public to potential fact-check stories. (Bong S. Sarmiento / MindaNews)
(This fact-check piece was produced with the support of Internews’ Philippine Fact-Checker Incubator Project.)
