The Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program is a human development program of the national government that invests in the health and education of poor households, particularly of children aged 0-14 years old.

Patterned after the conditional cash transfer scheme implemented in other developing countries, the Pantawid Pamilya provides cash grants to beneficiaries provided that they comply with the set of conditions required by the program.

Pantawid Pamilya has dual objectives:

1. Social Assistance – to provide cash assistance to the poor to alleviate their immediate need (short term poverty alleviation);
2. Social Development – to break the inter-generational poverty cycle through investments in human capital.

Pantawid Pamilya helps to fulfill the country’s commitment to meet the Millennium Development Goals, namely:

• Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger
• Achieve Universal Primary Education
• Promote Gender Equality
• Reduce Child Mortality
• Improve Maternal Health

Targeting System

The poorest households in the municipalities are selected through the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR) implemented by the DSWD using the Proxy Means Test. This test determines the socio-economic category of the families by looking at certain proxy variables such as ownership of assets, type of housing, education of the household head, livelihood of the family and access to water and sanitation facilities.
Eligible Households

• Households who are classified as poor based on the NHTS-PR at the time of assessment
• Households that have children 0-14 years old and/or have a pregnant woman at the time of assessment
• Households that agree to meet conditions specified in the program

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Set of Co-Responsibilities

To avail of the cash grants beneficiaries should comply with the following conditions:

• Pregnant women must avail pre- and post-natal care and be attended during childbirth by a trained health professional;
• Parents must attend Family Development Sessions (FDS);
• 0-5 year old children must receive regular preventive health check-ups and vaccines;
• 3-5 year old children must attend day care or pre-school classes at least 85% of the time.
• 6-14 year old children must enroll in elementary or high school and must attend at least 85% of the time.
• 6-14 years old children must receive deworming pills twice a year.

Program Coverage

Pantawid Pamilya in Caraga covers six cities and 75 municipalities.
The program has 158,023 active households in the region as of June 4, 2013.

Program Cycle

The implementation of Pantawid Pamilya Program follows the 8-step cycle namely;

1. Selection of target areas
2. Supply side assessment
3. Selection of household beneficiaries
4. Registration and validation of beneficiaries
5. Family Registry preparation
6. Initial payment
7. Verification of compliance
8. Second and succeeding release of cash grants.

Program Package

Pantawid Pamilya provides cash grants to the beneficiaries to wit:

• P6,000 a year or P500 per month per household for health and nutrition expenses; and
• P3000 for one school year or 10 months or P300/month per child for educational expenses. A maximum of three children per household is allowed.

A household with three qualified children receives a subsidy of P1,400/month during the school year or P15,000 annually as long as they comply with the conditions. The cash grants shall be received by the most responsible person in the household, usually the mother, through a Land Bank cash card.

In cases where payment through cash card is not feasible, the beneficiaries shall be provided their cash grants through an alternative payment scheme such as over-the-counter transactions from the nearest Landbank branch or offsite payments through Landbank. Cash grants are also released through other rural banks, Globe Remit, Philpost, First Consolidated Bank and other Cooperative Financial Institutions (CFI) especially in far-flung areas.

Pantawid Pamilya Institutional Arrangements

Pantawid Pamilya Systems

Pantawid Pamilya has developed three systems to organize its implementation, address issues systematically and effectively ensure that the program objectives are being met. These systems are known as the Beneficiary Update System, Compliance Verification System, Grievance Redress System.

Beneficiary Update System (BUS) seeks to get information that has bearing on cash payments and continued eligibility of household beneficiaries and ensures that these information are correctly reflected in the Pantawid Pamilya database.

The Compliance Verification System (CVS) is the mechanism used to check compliance of household beneficiaries on conditionalities on health, education and parenting/responsible parenthood as basis for payment of grants.

Grievance Redress System (GRS) is an instrument used for facilitating due process in resolving complaints and grievances of household beneficiaries and the community. It ensures accountability, transparency and responsibility in program implementation.