Do we help the most needy?

The Philippines has one of the biggest social safety net programs in the world, according to the World Bank in  its latest report on the State of Social Safety Nets.

The country's Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) now covering 20 million poor families is the "fastest expanding conditional cash transfer" program in the world, the bank said, as it has reached a level "no other countries have ever achieved." The same program is being implemented in Brazil, Mexico, Colombia and Bangladesh.  

       

Here, the 4Ps program is targeted at giving poor households cash in exchange for ensuring children go to school 80 percent of the total school days and that pregnant mothers are given enough maternal care. Each family receives a maximum of P1,400 a month.

       

But just how effective has it been in giving poor people hope in the future?

       

Not too well, it would seem, if we're to believe a recent news report.

       

The report said a man stabbed himself in the chest while waiting to receive cash assistance from the DSWD's 4Ps program. The incident took place in Siayan, Zamboanga del Norte, one of the poorest towns in the country according to government statistics.

       

The 39-year old man, who had his sickly nine-month old son with him, tried to kill himself but survived. Investigators learned the man had barely slept for five days as he took care of his sick son. He and the child were at the home of a town councilor waiting for the cash handout scheduled to be given that day when the incident happened.

       

Despair often drives people to do the unthinkable. In this case, extreme  poverty and his inability to get adequate medical care for his sick son drove a man to attempt to kill himself.

       

This incident, we think, should be a wake-up call for the government to review the 4Ps program so that those living in absolute poverty can get financial assistance promptly and expeditiously. How can they manage to keep body and soul together under the most desperate circumstances if their monthly sustenance comes late or worse, does not  come at all?

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