The Policy Process of the Philippines’ Conditional Cash Transfer Program: Analysis of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps)

Abstract

The Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) program in the Philippines popularly known as the 4Ps or the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program aimed to improve the lives of poor Filipinos and promote better health and social status. This paper discussed the policy process of the 4Ps starting from problem identification to the agenda setting, then policy formulation/legitimation up to the implementation and evaluation. Through a review of related literature, public policy theories and frameworks such as the Black Box, Kingdon’s Streams Metaphor, etc. were used in explaining the various stages of the program. Data from the World Bank, NEDA, and DSWD were also presented in order to provide evidence for the different stages of the policy process of the program. Originally, the 4Ps targeted children 0-14 years old, however, it was changed to 0-18 years so as to address the need of the beneficiaries’ children to at least finish high school so as to have a relatively good job. Moreover, the 4Ps started with 284 thousand beneficiaries since its inception in 2008. In 2016, the program covers 79% of the poor households in the country which demands more budgets for the program. The formulation and legitimation of the 4Ps can be deduced from the discussion of Curry, et. al. (2013) of whether the 4Ps was truly an adoption of the Bolsa Familia or just an imitation of it. The cost-benefit evaluation of the 4Ps from the vantage point of a transnational actor has rendered it feasible to still be implemented and continued.