For the first time in the 18-year history of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), mass graduation has taken place under the Marcos administration, with 1.6 million families having exited the program because their lives improved, Social Welfare Secretary Rex Gatchalian said Saturday.
Gatchalian made the disclosure in an interview on DZRH News program Special on Saturday on July 25, as part of the DZRH SONA 2026 Series.
He said the 4Ps, which has been running since 2008, previously saw only about 50,000 families graduate per year — making the 1.6 million figure a historic departure from the program’s past performance.
“2022, start ng PBBM administration till now, 1.6 million families na ang lumabas sa 4Ps. Gumanda na ang pamumuhay compared to prior years na 50,000 lang,” Gatchalian said.
The total number of 4Ps beneficiary families has dropped from 4.4 million to 3.8 million as a result, with the reduction representing families whose economic and social conditions have genuinely improved.
Gatchalian said the mass graduation was made possible by the improvement in case management, which allowed social workers to properly assess whether families were still eligible for the program or ready to exit.
“Ayusin kaagad ‘yung listahan,” Gatchalian said, recalling the President’s directive upon taking office, adding that the case management overhaul ensured that only deserving families remained in the program.
Assistant Secretary Irene Dumlao said the goal of the 4Ps has always been to break the intergenerational cycle of poverty through investment in human capital, and that graduation from the program means a family has achieved sufficient social and economic adequacy.
Gatchalian said the administration’s deeper case management, improved worker-to-family ratios, and tablet-based real-time case file updates all contributed to the ability to identify and process graduating families faster and more accurately.
He stressed that graduating families do not simply lose their government support upon exiting the 4Ps, but are transitioned to livelihood programs such as the Sustainable Livelihood Program to ensure continued progress.
