05/08/2025
THEY CALL IT “AYUDA.” I CALL IT HOPE.
As someone who grew up in a home that was once part of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), I carry with me not just the memories of hardship, but the gratitude for a lifeline that allowed me and my family to rise with dignity.
I am a product of 4Ps.
No, it didn’t make life instantly easy.
No, it didn’t make us rich.
But what it gave us was a chance, a chance to send children to school, a chance to buy medicine when someone was sick, a chance to have rice on the table during days we had nothing else.
People say, “4Ps is funded by taxpayers.” Yes, it is. And thank you. Because your taxes didn’t just fund a program, they funded dreams. You helped kids finish school. You helped mothers get prenatal check-ups. You helped families survive storms, pandemics, and hunger.
Now, there’s a growing noise about removing the program… replacing it with business capital or livelihood grants.
But let’s pause and ask:
What if they’re not ready for business? What if they never learned how?
Poverty isn’t just a lack of money, it’s also a lack of access, education, skills, and opportunity.
Giving someone P10,000 to “start a business” without training is like giving them a car without teaching them how to drive. You don’t empower the poor by leaving them behind. You walk with them. You teach them. You support them, until they can stand on their own.
Let’s not erase the progress that 4Ps has already built.
The program conditions ensure that children stay in school and get health checkups.
Efforts are already being made to integrate business training and financial literacy, and that’s exactly the path forward.
The answer is not to remove 4Ps, but to reinvent, reform, and reinforce it.
Don’t let politics decide the fate of families still struggling to survive.
Don’t let ignorance silence the voices of the poor.
Don’t remove the ladder that helped thousands of families climb.
Help us strengthen it — not destroy it.
Because when you help the poor rise, we all rise.
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