Nabas, Aklan- Sitting on the floor, playing her old guitar, strumming her favourite tunes, 19 years old Jerose Magsico tells her story on how did the 4Ps (Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program) provided her hope despite uncertainties as a poor.

Magsico said her challenge of hopelessness started when she was still a baby.

“My mom offered me to her friend for me to be adopted. My mom joked that if her friend would not accept me she would find a new adoptive parent in exchange for a carabao,” she said.

Her adoptive parent accepted the offer and she was later raised as a bubbly young lady at Barangay Nagustan, Nabas Aklan.

“My adoptive parent then was married for five years. They did everything to have a child and sought help for medical doctors but to no avail,” she said as her new parents inspire to work hard to give her a bright future.

Two years after, her parents finally have a child. This continues until Jerose has four siblings throughout the years.

“Back then, we are not considering poor as my father worked in a construction company. My mother sold rice at the market. However, as our family grew in number some of us including my brother got sick. The medications make us poor,” she said.

In 2009, several staff of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) came to their barangay. Upon survey, they were later considered as a 4Ps beneficiary.

The Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) is a human development measure of the Philippine national government that provides conditional cash grants to the poorest of the poor, to improve the health, nutrition, and the education of children aged 0-18. It is patterned after the conditional cash transfer (CCT) schemes in Latin American and African countries, which have lifted millions of people around the world from poverty.

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is the lead government agency of the 4Ps.

The 4Ps also helps the Philippine government fulfill its commitment to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)—specifically in eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, in achieving universal primary education, in promoting gender equality, in reducing child mortality, and in improving maternal health care.

“Because of the 4P’s, we were able to survive. However, the income derived from my father’s work and the 4Ps we were receiving is not enough for us. I decided to seek my fortune in Cebu and there I was accepted as a scholar in a Catholic institution there,” she said.

“During the entrance examination, I noticed that a Church full participated in the examination and only ten of us passed. Three of us later enjoyed the scholarship grant,” she said.

She also remembers while at school, she could not afford to even buy her own pair of shoes. There was even a moment wherein she has a new cheap shoe and as she was walking along her friends, it flown away to her embarrassment.

After high school, Jerose went home to Nabas and determined to look for other possible scholarship programs that would let her continue and support her education.

She was told by a DSWD staff for her to apply for an opportunity to avail of the scholarship under the Expanded Student’s Grant-in-Aid Program (ESGP-PA.) A benefit that is available for all 4Ps beneficiaries.

The aid program is implemented by the Commission on Higher Education,  Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and state universities and colleges.

“When the result of the examination was released, I felt nervous at first because it seems that I am not seeing my name in the passer’s list. I started to focus and review again the lists and there I saw my name on it!” she quipped.

Upon passing, she decided to pursue Bachelor of Science in Computer Science. The course is under the College of Hospitality and Rural Resource Management-Ibajay Campus of the Aklan State University.

Jerose during summer also underwent training to the Philippine Army Reservist Force in Dingle, Iloilo. She was offered P15, 000 cash incentive on condition to pursue her desire to become an army but she later backed out due to fortunate events.

One of her relative a police officer was ambushed by unidentified suspect in Antipolo.

“From then on, I decided to pursue another career path,” she said.

DSWD Undersecretary and Officer in Charge Emmanuel Leyco in April said that around 34,000 scholars graduated this year under the ESGP-PA program. Magsico was one of those few and proud scholars.

As of this writing, Magsico is schedule to travel on May 30 in Metro Manila to look for a job. She hopes to find  She hopes to find a job in the costumer service representative or in a call center industry.

“I salute the DSWD for giving dignity for those who are hopeless and for helping thousands of poor students all over the country. I hope the DSWD would help more students determined to study,” she added.

Meanwhile, in a related report DSWD Assistant Secretary Malou Turalde said that  the P200 monthly additional cash subsidy to cushion the impact of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion or TRAIN law  should not be subjected to any deduction.

Aklan 4Ps beneficiaries are receiving their cash grants seamlessly because all of them have their own automated teller machine cards.

Under the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law, the DSWD disclosed that it has already released in March the P4.32 billion for the 1.8 million beneficiaries of the unconditional-cash transfer (UCT) for the 4Ps beneficiaries who have cash cards issued by the Land Bank of the Philippines (LandBank).

Each family of the 1.8 million household-beneficiaries (including those coming from Boracay), the DSWD said, has received P2,400 cash assistance for this year.

The DSWD will do its save-the-poor-from-the-TRAIN law project for three years.

Specifically, the UCT financial assistance amounts to P2,400 for each family for the entire year, or equivalent to P200 per month, the DSWD further said.//dswd6