Combatting Poverty in the Philippines

city and has an urbanized setting, and there is a number of poor families concentrated in this city which are called urban poor.

The main target of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program is the urban poor, making the city of Manila the best place to study. Definition of terms Beneficiaries – It refers to the persons (particularly families) who are chosen to receive a cash grants from Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program. This group of people belongs to the poorest of the poor in their communities. Conditional Cash Transfer – It is a program funded by World Bank and Asian Development Bank. The goal of this program is to eradicate poverty through granting help to the poorest of the poor families in the form of cash.

In exchange with cash grants, the government sets conditions that the beneficiaries must follow, like sending their children to school, having regular check-up to health centers and receiving vaccinations. Dole-out – It is a term which means giving out grants in small portions. Usually dole-out comes in the form of cash. Poverty – It refers to one of the major societal issues that still exist most especially in the Third World Countries like the Philippines. It is a phenomenon where people experience hunger and deprivation to basic social services like education, health and even shelter.

There are different aspects of poverty such as joblessness, malnutrition, among others. In many countries, the instrument used to measure poverty incidence is the poverty line or poverty threshold. The poverty line or poverty threshold classifies people based on their income. Culture of Mendicancy – It refers to the phenomenon of begging to be able to live. People

depend on donations to continue living. Urban Poor – It refers to the families classified as poor according to income per capita. These poor families are concentrated in urban setting or cities like Manila. They can be usually found esiding at the side of the railroads, under the bridge and in other slum areas.

Urban poor do not have access to basic social services even though they are residing in cities. Human Capital – It refers to the ability and skills of the person to be able to participate in process of production which can provide him income. It can be measured through educational attainment, health and experience. Enhancing human capital is said to be improving the potential of an individual to be able to join the labor force. Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program – It is the specific name for the Conditional Cash Transfer program in the Philippines.

This is a program of the current administration, headed by President Aquino to gradually eradicate poverty. This program is done through selecting the beneficiaries and giving them cash grants with a set of conditions such as sending the children in school and regular check-up. Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is the government agency that is primarily responsible for its implementation and monitoring. Theoretical and Conceptual Framework This study will be guided by a theoretical theory – the Historical Materialist theory.

Through Historical Materialism theory, the history of the conditional cash transfer program in the Philippines will be considered as a part of the study. The history of the CCT program will include all the details starting from conceptualizing and framework-building up to its implementation and status at present.

This study will also include some details about CCT programs in other countries. Also included in the Historical Materialist theory is the study of the interaction of substructure and superstructure where the economic conditions (substructure) affects or have impact on people’s ideas, culture as well as politics (superstructure).

The interaction will be used to analyze the problem stated in this study. The concept of class struggle would also be taken into consideration to know how much benefits it would give to the marginalized, specifically the poor, and also if the project should be implemented in the long-run. Below is the diagram of the connection of concepts defined in the previous section: Conceptual Diagram Based on the diagram illustrated above, it all started with the concept of poverty. Poverty is the major social issue to be discussed in this study. It is the root of all the connections of concepts.

Poverty is the very first thing that the government wanted to eliminate for a very long time already. From the root cause, poverty, second concept emerged – the conditional cash transfer program. This is formulated by the government to combat the root cause. CCT aims to invest in human capital. Through CCT also the government is giving cash grants or dole-outs. Some of the critics of CCT programs say that dole-out promotes the culture of mendicancy. Dole-outs are then given to the beneficiaries, specifically the urban poor and their problem is poverty, the root cause.

The diagram clearly stated the interactions of the concepts and how they are all connected with poverty. Therefore, poverty is the main issue and the root cause. Methodology and Research Design This study will

focus mainly on the beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program. Since the 4Ps targets the urban poor, the respondents, which consists of 100 beneficiaries of 4Ps, will come from the city of Manila. This study will be a qualitative research. The researcher will engage in field work where she must go in the areas where the respondents are residing.

The methods of obtaining data will be through survey. A structured questionnaire will be given to 100 respondents. The researcher will use the combination of probability and non-probability sampling methods. Cluster sampling will be used in determining the specific place within the city of Manila to conduct surveys, since the city of Manila is too large to be surveyed. The place will be chosen through lottery. After determining the place, purposive sampling will be used, where the researcher will find each respondent chosen randomly.

In addition to surveys, this study will be supported by related literatures published and this will be done through archival research. The data obtained in the archives will be used to support the data obtained from surveys. This research will also use some quantitative methods such as making use of graphs, statistics as well as matrices or tables. This will aid the readers to further understand the data obtained. Respondents From a number of beneficiaries of Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program in Manila, only 100 beneficiaries will be chosen for this study.

In the selection of the respondents, two criteria must be present:

• the respondent must be a resident of the city of Manila
• they must be beneficiaries of 4Ps, receiving cash grants from DSWD from the start of the program implementation up to the
  

present.

Instruments in Analyzing Data The data that will be obtained from the survey will be analyzed through graphs, matrices, and also software called IBM SPSS Statistics 19. Certain tests in the data obtained will be generated through the SPSS software.

IBM SPSS Statistics is a comprehensive, easy-to-use and predictive analytic tool used by businesses, government, research and academic organizations. This software offers the users to automatically generate tests of variables, charts and graphs for further understanding and analysis of the data obtained. Hypothesis Upon the completion of this study, the researcher would like to prove or disprove the proposed hypothesis that the beneficiaries of Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program prefer to be given job opportunities and be employed more than continuously receiving cash grants from the government.

Objectives of the Study General Objective: This study aims to have a deeper knowledge and understanding about poverty in the Philippines and how the government address this social issue through its poverty reduction schemes. Specific Objectives:

• To be able to deepen one’s knowledge about the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, its objectives, mechanisms and its current status;
• To be able to be aware of the progress of the lives of the beneficiaries of 4Ps in Manila through conducting field work;
• To be able to analyze and point out the strong and weak points of the program;
• To be able to formulate recommendations for the improvement or development of the program based on the results from the interaction with the selected beneficiaries, to make it more suitable for the needs of the people.

Scope and Limitation This study aims to know the effects of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program of the current administration to

its beneficiaries in the city of Manila, through the help of Department of Social Welfare and Development and local government units. This study will cover the beneficiaries of 4Ps in the city of Manila only. From the total number of beneficiaries within Manila, only 100 families will be asked to answer the survey.

This study has a limited scope and will not be very comprehensive due to personal limitations of the researcher who’s still a niversity student. Significance of the Study It has been more than a year when the CCT program was implemented in the country. Since the Aquino administration decided to pursue this program, it will continue to expand in the next few years of its implementation, taking into account the statement of the President about his eagerness to its continuous expansion. The scope of 4Ps has been wider than before and it accommodates more beneficiaries now. Even the fund for the project has an increase too.

These are clear manifestations that indeed, the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program will pursue. It will be very important to conduct a study about this project along with its achievements, progress and future goals. Through this research, the effects of the program on its beneficiaries will be seen. The effectiveness of the program in poverty alleviation will be evaluated based on the respondents’ answers to the survey supported by literature. This research can be used by the future researchers who wish to continue this study or those who are researching on related topics.

This study will contain statistics and other data that will be helpful to other researchers. It will also help the readers, especially the beneficiaries who are the

main subject of this study. This study aims to inform the beneficiaries as to how their lives have changed because of 4Ps. They will be also able to comprehend other beneficiaries’ situations and learn from it. After informing the beneficiaries about the findings of this study, they will be able to think whether this program really had a positive effect on their lives and other people’s lives as well.

They can suggest reforms or changes on the program which they think that can help with its improvement. They can also think if this program is really effective as a poverty-alleviation tool. Government officials and legislators can also use this study to make changes on the program, or even to make legislations which they think are better from other poverty alleviation programs. Through this study, they can analyze how the program worked on its first year of implementation and make necessary actions about it.