THE HARDSHIPS AND BENEFITS OF 4PS STUDENT-BENEFICIARIES

A Research Paper Presented to the Faculty of

Senior High School, Davao City National High School

Humanities and Social Sciences

In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirement in

Research Daily Life I

by:

Sohaiber S. Bacolodan

Jhoanna Kaye C. Estrada

April Ella Mae D. Etorma

Jezeel C. Gitacay

Redin D. Icona

Cherry Mae E. Rivera

Patricia Louisse G. Somoza

February 2017
 APPROVAL SHEET

The research paper entitled “The Hardships and Benefits of 4Ps

Student-Beneficiaries” prepared and submitted by Sohaiber S. Bacolodan,

Jhoanna Kaye Bacolodan, April Ella Mae D. Etorma, Jezeel C. Gitacay,

Redin D. Iconas, Cherry Mae E. Rivera and Patricia Louisse G. Somoza in

partial fulfillment of the requirements in subject, has been examined and

recommended for oral examination acceptance and approval.

AMYLYN F. LABASANO, PhD

Adviser

PANEL EXAMINEERS

Accepted and approved, after the presentation of the study with a grade of

________.

ROBERTO R. BINAG, Master Teacher II

Member

MARILOU Z. OMPAD, Master Teacher III

Member
 Acknowledgement

This research paper was made possible through the help and support of

everyone; our Almighty God, parents, families, teachers, friends and classmates.

Also please allow us to acknowledge the help and gratitude toward the following

significant advisory and contributors.

First and foremost, we would like to thank our Almighty God for giving us

strength and good health to finish this research.

Second, we would like to thank our parents and families for the financial support

and for the moral support.

Third, we would like to thank Mrs. Amylyn F. Labasano for her support and

encouragement. She patiently read our paper and offered important detailed

advices on our grammar, organization and the theme of our research.

Fourth, we would like to thank our teachers for giving us their time to accomplish

this research and also to our classmates and friends who were always there to

help.

Lastly, we sincerely thank the Senior High School students who gave their

time and answers to our research questions. Without them, this research won’t

be possible.
 CHAPTER 1

The Problem and its Scope

Rationale of the Study

We, Filipinos, can’t hide the fact that we’re under the circumstance of

poverty. Most of the Filipinos are having a hard time in making living for their

family and especially for their children. Eating three-times-a-day is even

impossible for them, what more for education? Poverty left no space for

education, it consumed everything. Children who were intended to study are now

sacrificing their future just to help their parents in making jobs that are

inappropriate to their age. Until 4Ps came, 4Ps program is currently being

implemented by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

This program aims to help Filipino families who are deeply in need and through

this program; the future of their children can now be molded and achieved.

The Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4ps) is the Philippine

government’s most expensive social protection to date. The program provides

cash grant to poor families to help them meet immediate needs. At the same

time, it aims to break the “intergenerational poverty” by investing in human

capital. The latter is achieved by imposing conditions in exchange for the cash

assistance the program gives to the beneficiaries.

The Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program or 4Ps is the Philippines

version of the conditional cash transfer. Based on the Department of Social

Welfare and Development (DSWD) studies primer, the 4Ps is a poverty reduction
and social development strategy of the national government. It provides cash

transfers to extremely poor households to help improve their health, nutrition and

education. The two objectives of the program are social assistance and social

development. The program aims to alleviate the poor’s immediate needs; hence

it can be termed as short-term poverty alleviation. In return, the family-

beneficiaries have to commit themselves to the following conditions: pregnant

women must avail of the pre and post-natal care and be attended during

childbirth by a trained medical professional; parents must attend family

development seminars; children aged 0-5 must undergo regular preventive

health check-ups and must receive vaccines; children aged 3-5 must attend day

care or pre-school classes at least 85 percent of the time; children aged 6-14

must enroll in elementary and high school, and attend at least 85 percent of the

time; and aged 6-14 must also receive de-worming pills twice a year. The family-

beneficiaries will receive the grant for at most five years, provided that they

comply with the conditions.

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in Davao

Region has listed 68,000 beneficiaries of 4Ps since January 2016. The program

aims to solve the poverty problems of Filipino citizens on a short-term basis,

investigating in health and education children ages 18 years old and below.

DSWD in Davao Region is targeting about 102,606 high school students of the

4Ps beneficiaries to attend Youth Development Session (YDS). Based on their

data, there are 25,908 expected students to attend YDS in Compostella Valley;

23,317 in Davao del Norte; 32,592 in Davao del Sur including Davao City; and
20,789 in Davao Oriental. The DSWD, in partnership with the National Youth

Commission (NYC) and Department of Education (DepEd), launched the YDS at

Davao City National High School (DCNHS) in Davao City. DSWD-Davao director

Priscilla N. Razon, in a press conference, said that YDS will be required to

maintain the scholarships in order to motivate and encourage students to finish

high school. Today the program is seen more broadly as a “vehicle”, according to

Fernandez and Olfindo (2011). The number Senior High School Students who

were under the 4Ps are more or less forty. Most of them are already not part of

the program because of their age and other personal reasons. The 4Ps help the

SHS students in their financial problems related t their studies.

The year 2013 marks the fifth year of the 4Ps implementation in the

country since it started year 2008. The first batch of beneficiaries will be

graduating from the program in the several in several months’ time. Meanwhile,

the government continues to expand the implementation of the program to

address the many facets of poverty.

4Ps is a social program that entails monetary and non-monetary transfers

to the poor or poorest families who have school-aged children on the condition

that they meet the program’s terms that are aimed at improving their capacities

(Cecchini and Madariaga 2011). Brazil and Mexico were the first countries that

implemented the 4Ps program. The main objective was to provide cash to

families who are in extreme poverty in exchange for some education and health

care commitments. Since then, many countries, including the Philippines have

attempted to replicate their examples. But even if 4Ps program looks so perfect,
its mission to help the Filipino people is so fascinating and mesmerizing, it still

have a lot of flaws. The question is; does it really bring benefits or it is a curse to

the people, specifically the students, under this program as it continues to grow

and fulfill its duty.

4PS continue to expand as time goes by but flaws are also slowly being

evident to everyone. One of the most controversial aspects of the program

involves targeting. Fernandez and Olfindo (2011) noted that this program was

rolled out to the poorest households. In particular, DSWD and partner agencies

had implemented the pilot program, established the targeting system necessary

for expansion. The authors also marked that the targeting system has produced

good results since about 90 percent of the beneficiaries belong to the bottom 40

percent of the population while 72 percent belong to the poorest 20 percent,

based on the 2009 FIES. They also presented anecdotal evidence that the net

education enrollment rates of children in the targeted households have increased

while the number of children who have availed of the health services have also

increased.

The researchers came up with this study because the researchers not just

want to know the benefits that can get in 4Ps and the requirements needed to

acquire, but the researchers also want to understand the hardships that the

beneficiaries experienced under this program and how they cope up with it. This

reason made this study different form other studies.

 Research Framework

Social contract theory according to Jean Rousseau: the state exists to

ensure or guarantee protection of rights, life, property and liberty. Its prime

motive is for the protection of the citizenry, which means to surrender their rights,

not to a single individual, but to the community as a whole as what Rousseau

called as the general will. At the central part of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino

Program (4ps) is a social contract where a states provides financial resources to

a family in exchange for that family's fulfilment of certain condition set by the

government.

In connection with Social Contact Theory, this study aims to know the

benefits that 4ps give to its beneficiaries and the requirements needed in order to

be qualified. According to Rousseau, 4Ps gives financial protection to the citizens

in exchange of the citizen’s freedom because there are conditions needed to

comply in order to acquire the program. The program aims to alleviate the poor’s

immediate needs and in return, the family-beneficiaries have to commit

themselves to the following conditions: pregnant women must avail of the pre

and post-natal care and be attended during childbirth by a trained medical

professional; parents must attend family development seminars; children aged 0-

5 must undergo regular preventive health check-ups and must receive vaccines;

children aged 3-5 must attend day care or pre-school classes at least 85 percent

of the time; children aged 6-14 must enroll in elementary and high school, and

attend at least 85 percent of the time; and aged 6-14 must also receive de-
worming pills twice a year. The family-beneficiaries will receive the grant for at

most five years, provided that they comply with the conditions.

This theory just states that 4Ps is not for free because the beneficiaries

freedom acts as the compensation to what 4Ps brings to them. Rousseau’s

theory is related to this study because it talks about what it takes to become a

4Ps beneficiary.

Research Objectives

In respect to the previously stated problems, the researchers hope to

accomplish the following objectives:

1. To know the benefits enjoyed by 4Ps student-beneficiaries

2. To explore the ways on how they cope up with those challenges

3. To describe the challenges encountered by 4Ps student-beneficiaries

4. To point out how 4Ps program help them in their studies

Research Questions

This study was conducted to identify the hardships and benefits in

becoming a 4Ps student-beneficiary.

It is designed to answer the following questions:

1. What are the benefits enjoyed by 4Ps student-beneficiaries?

2. How does 4Ps help them in their studies?

3. What are the challenges encountered by 4Ps student-beneficiaries?

4. How do they cope with these challenges?

Significance of the Study

The significance of this study is to know and find out the hardships and

benefits of senior high school students in DCNHS that is being supported by 4P’s

(Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program). This study aims to gather information on

how the senior high school students coped up with their challenges/struggles

specifically in eradicating extreme poverty and financial assistance in terms of

their studies or education. The outcome of the findings of the study will be

beneficial to the following:

Student-Beneficiaries. Since they are the main focus of this study, they

will benefit from this. This study will help them express their emotions, opinions

and sentiments. To help them be able to speak and be heard by the government.

Government. This study will let them know what the real state of the

beneficiaries is. They will be informed if 4Ps is was felt by the Filipinos’ who

really needed it. The results of this study will tell them if 4Ps succeeded and and

effective solution to poverty.

Public. Beneficiary or not, this study will aware everyone of what is really

happening in the country. To let everyone know what the government has been

doing to kill poverty and what is the real state of some of the Filipinos Families.
This study will let every individual know if this program is an effective solution

and if it really brought wellness to Filipino’s who needed it.

Scope and Limitation

In as much in this study only deals with the hardship and benefits of senior

high students that are beneficiary of Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps)

in Davao City National High School, It's result may not apply same type of

phenomenon in other school, both within and outside the Davao City premise.

The weakness of the research study may be attributed to its character of being

subjective since it source of data are from the perception of the identified

respondents, which may affected from personal bias and inaccuracies. Despite

this limitation, the researchers hope the result of this study will contribute much in

understanding the dynamics of Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps). This

study was done during the second semester of SY 2016-2017.

Definition of Terms

Hardships- refer to something that causes or entails suffering or privation. This

term is being used in our study on the hardships that 4ps student beneficiaries

experienced. This term represents the struggles that the beneficiaries had

experienced upon completing the conditions to be qualified to be one and during

the times that they are under this program.

Benefits- refer to financial or non-financial help. This term is particularly used in

our study because of the benefits 4ps had given to the beneficiaries. These are

the things that the beneficiaries had received from the government through this

program that brought wellness to their lives.

4P’s- refer to Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program. It is the program of DSWD

to help and give cash assistance to the poor people or families.

The Review of Related Literature

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in Davao

Region is targeting about 102,606 high school students of the Pantawid

Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) beneficiaries to attend Youth Development

Session (YDS).DSWD-Davao director Priscilla N. Razon, in a press conference,

said the YDS will be required to maintain the grant in order to motivate and

encourage students to complete high school. NYC assistant secretary Percival V.

Cendaña also said that YDS aims to equip the children of the 4Ps beneficiaries

with necessary life skills to realize their full potentials, reduce risky behaviors and

lessen deterrents to their development.

This study has related in Mountain Province. 179 students in this province

whose families belong to the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) are

beneficiaries of the Expanded Student Grant-in-Aid Program for Poverty

Alleviation (ESGP-PA) program of the Department of Social Welfare and

Development (DSWD). 4Ps provincial link Johnny Bumakil of the DSWD in

Mountain Province said 128 of the beneficiaries enrolled in the last semester of

school year 2014-2015 at the Mt. Province State Polytechnic College (MPSPC)

Bontoc Campus, and 45 at the MPSPC Tadian Campus. Six did not enrol last

semester but will enrol in the first semester of this school year. Bumakil said four

ESGP-PA beneficiaries have graduated, three with a Bachelor’s degree in

Secondary Education and one in Elementary Education. This program entitles a

student to a P60,000 grant per school year or P30,000 per semester. The grant

covers the costs for tuition and other school fees, purchase of textbooks, board

and lodging, among other expenses. The beneficiary must maintain good grades

to stay in the program.

4Ps gives Php 300/month as support for the education of pupils from 3-4

years, thus as a condition, a child enrolled in elementary school must maintain

class attendance rate at least 85% per month (4Ps DSWD, 2006) and as

expected by schools they can pay their contribution and provide school

requirements (projects, school supplies, allowance, etc.).

Another study that is related with this study was found out by the

researchers

Advantage of 4ps:

The “CCT programs address both future poverty, by fostering human

capital accumulation among the young as a means of breaking the

intergenerational transmission of poverty and current poverty, by providing

income support for consumption in the short run” (Rawlings & Rubio, 2005, p.
33). Indeed, the main objective of the 4Ps and other CCT programs is to prevent

inter-generational transference of poverty and help break the infinite cycle of

poverty by providing the children the suitable educational and health assistance

so as to help them develop the facilities for a better future. Investing in children’s

human capital and ensuring that they grow into educated and healthy adults, is

the equivalent of teaching them how to fish. Healthy, educated children ultimately

have more choices in life and are able to become productive members of society

(Bloom, 2008).

Furthermore, the implementation of the 4Ps lessens the incidence of child

labor and other forms of child abuse. In cases of the other CCT programs

implemented in other countries, there are two interrelated mechanisms found to

help combat child labor. First, through their cash subsidy component, schooling’s

directs costs are reduced, thereby inducing families to send their children to

school, as opposed to work. Second, these programs require families to have

their children attend school, 85% of the school days per month in the case of the

4Ps, in exchange to cash subsidy. This requirement increases the time children

spend in school and reduces the time they can allocate to work (Gee, 2010).

There is a noticeable increase in the number of enrollees in many elementary

schools in areas included in the scope of the 4Ps, and kindergarten classes were

being established to answer the need of the community in compliance to the

condition of sending 0-5 years old children in day care centers and preschools

(DSWD, 2009). Subsequently, if collaborative compliance to this requirement of

the 4Ps is ensured, the literacy rate of the children is also expected to increase.
Disadvantage of 4ps:

Like any other government program, the 4Ps also have its disadvantages

that may encumber its helpful benefits. One of the most crucial characteristic of

the 4Ps and other CCT programs implemented in other countries is its being a

‘demand-side’ intervention instead of being a ‘supply-side’ intervention. That is, in

order to be considered as a beneficiary of the program, one must concede with

the government’s demands and conditionalities (Coady & Parker, 2002). This is

remarkably notable in the conditions concerning education and health services

where the beneficiaries being brought into the education and health services

system instead of expanding the education and health systems in order to reach

them.

Furthermore, as previously mentioned, poverty in the country is not only

caused by the lack of economic resources, but also because of socio-economic

and political factors that prevent the equality and distribution of resources.

Although the 4Ps aims to provide the poor with the education which is, otherwise,

inaccessible, it does not directly answer the socio-economic and political

problems that are the primary cause of poverty. In the case of the 4Ps in the

Philippines, it does not answer the issues regarding the political and economic

elite families. And poverty can only be totally alleviated if there are programs that

could target its roots.

According to Cuesta (2007), 4Ps will also encounter some difficulties in

achieving support from the other social classes, mainly because it does not
benefit middle-income groups which have also been steadily affected by limited

universal services and decreases in employment. These middle-income groups

are also suffering from issues of poverty and limited access to educational and

health benefits, but are not included in the target population of the 4Ps. The 4Ps

is programmed to help only the extremely poor.

 CHAPTER 2

Method

This chapter presents philosophical assumptions, research design,

participants and sampling, ethical consideration, role of the researchers,

gathering information and data analysis.

Philosophical Assumptions

In our study, we included certain philosophical assumption that would

guide and help us understand underlying phenomenon that would shape the

direction of our research study.

Cresswall (2005) identifies the four basic assumptions that every

researcher makes when they undertake a qualitative research project, which are

ontology (how the issues relate to the nature of reality); epistemology (being

aware of how knowledge claims are justified by staying as close to the

participants as possible during the study in order to get firsthand information

about their knowledge); axiology (the role of values in research); and rhetoric (the

researcher’s use of language which should be engaging, personal, literary and

informal). The philosophical assumptions are embedded with interpretative

frameworks (Gasque, 2010) on which the research is based.

In this study, the researchers employed ontological assumption since the

researchers wanted to relate this study to the nature of reality. This study relate
to the nature of reality of the hardships and struggles the beneficiaries

experienced under the 4Ps program. Through in-depth interview with the

participants, multiple sentiments and experiences were shared by them which

became the basis of the researchers’ data interpretation and analysis. The

sentiments and experiences that were shared are actual words of different

individuals that represent different opinions and life experiences from individuals.

Research Design

The purpose of this qualitative study is to understand the hardships and

benefits of becoming a senior high school student 4ps beneficiary. As this study

goes, we will able to find out the difficulties experienced by the beneficiaries in

their study.

This study is a phenomenological study because it focuses on life

experience of senior high school 4ps student-beneficiaries. A phenomenological

study focuses on descriptions of what people had experienced and how

experienced it. One can employ a general phenomenological perspective to

elucidate the importance of using methods that capture people’s experience of

the world without conducting a phenomenological study that focuses on the

essence of shared experience (Patton, 1990).

In this study, the research instrument that will be using is in-depth

interview (one interview per strand). It is a standardized, open-ended interview

which means a same open-ended question is asked to all interviewees; this

approach facilitates faster interviews that can be more easily analyzed and

compared. The receive data will often depend on the ability of the Interviewer

and gather data well. Some interviewers also have their biases that could impact

the way they input responses. This is likely happen in hot topic opinion poll.

Participants and Sampling

In this study, one selected senior high student beneficiary from Science

Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), Accountancy and Business

Management (ABM), Humanities and Social Sciences (HUMSS) and Technology

Vocational Learning (TVL) strands will be the participants to undergo series of

interviews to be able to gather data and information that will be useful in making

this study successful.

Ethical Considerations

A significant portion of qualitative research involves collecting of data from

the research participants. Participants provided relevant information depending

on the interaction between the researchers and themselves. Therefore, the

researchers conducted the interview to get the best answer from our

respondents. As qualitative researchers, they observed and followed different

ethical standards such as giving of an informed consent, ethic of confidentiality

and ethic of non-discrimination.

 The researchers invited the respondents to participate in our study in a

considerate manner. They explained to them the purpose of our study as well as

the guidelines in conducting the interview. The researchers also respected the

decisions of some participants and did not force them to participate on our study.

They set an appointment for an interview to those who gave their consents.

Role of the researchers

This study engaged qualitative research design in which the researchers

are an instrument. The investigator’s contribution to the research setting can be

useful and positive rather than negative. Therefore, we conducted an in-depth

interview with the participants.

In gathering data, the researchers presence, readiness of having the

materials needed for an in-depth with the student beneficiaries and the

researchers patience helped to avoid pressure and for the participants to have

precise answers. The researchers ensured that all the research questions were

answered trough questioning. The researchers were enjoying listening to the

participants inspiring answers. The researchers gave the participants token of

appreciation for their participation in this study.

The researchers transcribed the collected data after they interviewed all

the participants. To help the researchers easily recall the sharing of the

participants, a cellphone recorder was used during the interview. This is to

facilitate the transcription and establish accuracy using a voice recorder.

 Analyzing was the most difficult role of a researcher. The result of the

analysis was the focus of our study. The researchers read and re-read the

transcription several times to come up with the major themes.

Data Gathering Information

The researchers used interview to gather data in this study used on

selected Senior high school students in Davao City National High School who are

recipients of 4ps program. In obtaining the pertinent data in this study: the

researchers made a questionnaire for the respondents. The researchers first find

Senior High School 4Ps beneficiaries and asked permission if they can interview

them. Researchers set a specific time for the interview. The researchers ensure

the accuracy of the process by using a cellphone recorder. The researchers

recorded the whole interview and translated the data afterwards. Lastly the

researchers made a conclusion from the gathered data.

Find respondents

Ask permission for an interview

Conducted an in-depth interview

Used a cellphone recorder to ensure

the accuracy
Figure 1. Flow in Data Gathering Information

Data Analysis Technique

Transcription of the data collected will be done by the researchers. The

researchers will discover themes in the transcripts and attempting to verify,

confirm and qualify them by searching through the data.

Data analysis will be done through participant validation. The researchers

will give an interview transcripts or data analysis for them to answer and validate

or refute the researcher’s interpretation of the data.

In this study, the researchers used an open-ended interview in gathering

data. During the actual interview they recorded the conversation between the

participants and the researchers to secure the accuracy of the data. Then after

that, they transcribed the gathered data. The researchers read and re-read the

transcription of the data collected for the participants to understand their lived

experiences as 4Ps student-beneficiaries.

In the readings, they came up with the code in every data collected in the

participants. The researchers classified the coded data accordingly to its theme.

The researchers came up with two themes per question with a total of eight

themes.
 Appendix A

Interview Guide

Guide Questions Probing Questions

 What kind of benefits have you

1. What are the benefits enjoyed received?

by the 4Ps studnt-beneficiaries  What are the benefits that have

you received?

 For how long will these benefits

last?

 How did 4Ps helped you?

2. How does 4Ps help them with  For how long will 4Ps help you

their studies? with your studies?

 When did 4Ps started to help

you in your studies?

3. What are the challenges

 What kind of challenges have
encountered by 4Ps student
you encountered?
beneficiaries?
 How hard was it?

 How did you feel when you

 encountered those challenges?

 What did you do to cope up with

4. How do they coped with these the challenges as 4Ps

challenges? beneficiary?

 Who helped you to cope up?

 How long did it take for you to

cope up
 Appendix E

Research Flow

January 30 February 7-12

 Send letter to the guidance office of  Encoding of data

DCNHS

January 31 February 13-18

 Get the names of SHS students  Analysis of data

beneficiaries
 Send letters to the participants

February 1 February 19-24

 Start an in-depth interview/FGD in  Finalization of all parts

HUMSS and ABM Strand (par t 1)

February 2

 Conduct second part of the  Submission of final research

interview/FGD in STEM and TVL Strand output

February 3-6

 Translating of data