Divine Word College of Bangued

GRADUATE SCHOOL

METHODS OF RESEARCH

LIMLETH AIRA L. DAPIT MAYLENE R. PAMBALAN, PhD

TITLE: Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4P’s): Its Mediating Role to the Academic
Performance of Pupil-Beneficiaries.

Introduction

As a teacher, I embraced the fact that I am playing an important role in the reformation of

our society for a better tomorrow for the next generations. So, a part of my responsibilities is to

investigate on the effectiveness in the implementation of the different educational related

programs that aim to improve the quality of Philippine educational system in terms of the

teaching and learning process and all other possible aspects related to uplifting quality education

for the youth. My interest was caught by this Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4P’s) that

was developed by the government to give aid to the pupils who were considered “poor” in the

society because this was not yet implemented during my pupil and student days so, I got curious

on the impact of this to the academic performance of pupils now.

In the aspect of financial burden of my learners, I am saddened that I cannot do otherwise

but to just give whatever I can provide but those were not enough in supplementing their needs.

As a classroom teacher of Ud-udiao Elementary School, I observed that children who don’t have

something in their stomach tended to sleep and don’t have interest to the lessons being discussed.

Indeed, 4P’s lessens the burden of the learner’s in terms of their health and food supply in their
households but this situation doesn’t mean that they are already performing well in school in

terms of their academic performance.

Researches proved that indeed the 4P’s helped to increase the enrollment rate and

percentage of attendance of the pupil-beneficiaries but in this study, I want to find-out if those

high percentage of attendance will also translate into a good academic performance of the pupil-

beneficiaries in terms of their general average and compliance of school requirements. Since the

school is one of the partners of the government in implementing this program, the school must

also have a support mechanism in a form of programs and school activities that will compliment

and help in sustaining the positive results of the program in the academic performance of the

pupil-beneficiaries. This research will look on good school practices that will supplement the

4P’s of the government for its better success indicator.

In our community where people have the same economic status, the same because almost

all are farmers, only few are considered to be in the middle class because they were able to go

abroad and finished their studies; the researcher believes that this program doesn’t have great

impact in the lives of the learners in their place but instead it created a wall between the 4P’s

beneficiaries and the non-beneficiaries. This program also spoiled the parent-grantees, they were

very dependent on the cash grants they are receiving and they refuse to make any other ways for

them to be able to provide for the educational needs of their children, whereas the non 4P’s

grantees were resourceful enough to provide for their children even if they have the same

situation as those who are receiving cash aid from the government. So, the researcher badly

wants to investigate on the effectiveness of this program in a far-flung place where lives were the

same before the 4P’s was implemented and even after it was implemented.
 As a result of researches of successful researches in other countries, the Philippines

recognizes the need to address issues on poverty reduction. Being a third world country, several

means in order to keep at par with the Millennium Development Goals were observed. A large

percentage of the Philippine population has been affected by poverty for many years now (Reyes

et al., 2014). As such, the government with an aim to at least minimize poverty prevalence has

introduced various social programs and policies. However, because most are attached to single-

focus solutions, they have proven to be ineffective and not sustainable (Son and Florentino,

2008). Not until year 2008 when Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), one of the most

popular social measures adopted by the country was implemented (Dungog-Cuizon and Cuizon,

2016). The Philippine government, through the 4Ps, provides conditional cash grants to the

marginalized or to the “poorest of the poor” to improve the health, nutrition, and the education of

children aged 0 to 18 (Reyes et al., 2013). The program is patterned after the conditional cash

transfer (CCT) schemes in Latin American and African countries, which have lifted millions of

people around the world from poverty (Raquiza, 2018; Fiszbein, et al., 2009). Same with most of

the Conditional Cash Transfer Programs being implemented in different countries, it is among

the targets of the Philippine 4Ps to break the cycle of poverty and address the needs of the

marginalized by supplementing the household beneficiaries’ financial resource through the cash

grant. The successes of programs like Bolsa Familia of Brazil and Oportunidades of Mexico

inspired the implementation of the program.

The 4Ps is considered as the largest social protection program in the Philippines with the

widest coverage of the marginalized households (Department of Social Welfare and

Development, 2009). The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is the

government agency tasked to spearhead the selection of the grantees and the provision of cash
grants to eligible beneficiaries (Reyes et al., 2013) who have affirmed that they will abide to, and

satisfy all the conditions. These include regular health check-ups for pregnant women and

children aged 0 to 5; deworming of school children aged 6 to 14 twice a year; enrolment of

children in daycare, elementary, and secondary schools with at least 85% class attendance

(Fernandez and Olfindo, 2011). Aside from these, the parent-beneficiaries are required to attend

mother’s class and family development sessions designed to enhance their skills and

understanding on core family values and parental responsibilities, and to encourage them to be

involved in community activities (Mangahas et al., 2018). To easily and systematically identify

eligible beneficiaries from across the country, the DSWD introduced a survey and data collection

system known as LISTAHANAN or National Household Targeting System for Poverty

Reduction (NHTS-PR) (Hayakawa, et al., 2015). Enumerators hired by the department go to

every household to collect information regarding the socio-demographic profile of the residents

similar to what enumerators of Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) do but with focus on

identifying the socioeconomic needs of the members of the family. The data is processed and

analyzed to come up with a list of eligible beneficiaries or the disadvantaged families with

pregnant mothers or school-aged children (Department of Social Welfare and Development,

2011). Many families have benefitted from the program since its launch (Catubig et al., 2015).

The purpose of the 4Ps program to promote social development as a response to the immediate

needs of extremely poor families has been effective in breaking the intergenerational cycle of

poverty in many regions of the country (Dungog-Cuizon et al., 2016). Based on records, the 4Ps

has been implemented to all regions in the Philippines comprised of 79 provinces, 143 cities, and

1,484 municipalities. As of August 26, 2015, there are 4, 353, 597 active household

beneficiaries. Of which, 570, 056 are Indigenous Peoples’ households while 217, 359 have at
least one member who is considered a Person with Disability (PWD). School children ages 0 to

18, who are among the primary recipients or beneficiaries of the program account for 10, 235,

658 of the total surveyed population with an average of two to three children per household

(Fernandez and Olfindo, 2011).

Orbeta (2013) defined 4Ps as the heart of the social protection program of the Philippine

government. Like conditional cash transfer programs in many other countries, it provides cash

grants to recipients provided they comply with given conditions such as keeping their children in

school, getting health check-ups, and attending family development sessions.

The conditions are: parents must ensure that their children who are recipients of the

program attend school at least 85% of the time, and will receive vaccinations and health care.

Pregnant women must receive pre- and post-natal care and be attended during childbirth by a

skilled health professional. Parents must attend, mother's classes, parent effectiveness seminars

and responsible parenthood seminars.

The recipients are selected through a Proxy Means Test which considers the ownership of

assets, type of housing, education of the household head, livelihood of the family and access to

water and sanitation facilities.

Their compliance is checked and verified by the DSWD during the reporting period prior

to the release of the payment. Non-compliance to any of the conditionalities also mean non-

inclusion on the list of eligible beneficiaries for that month. Continued non-compliance (third

offense) will result in termination of payments and suspension from the program (Fernandez and

Olfindo, 2011).
 In terms of family composition, a significant proportion of the program recipients (23%)

has large family size (at least 8 members). In contrast, 9 percent of nonrecipients belong to this

category. Meanwhile, 21 percent of 4Ps beneficiaries belong to smaller families (consisting of up

to 4 members), just like the majority of nonrecipients. On average, 4Ps families have more

members (6 persons), than non-4Ps families (4 persons). The former also have higher

dependency ratio. Roughly half of the total members in 4Ps families are less than 15 years

old while only one out of four members in non-4Ps families belong to this age group. (Celia M.

Reyes, et.all, 2015)

The program also helps to fulfill the country’s devotion to meet the Millennium

Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015, namely: 1) Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, 2)

Achieve universal primary education, 3) Promote gender equality, 4) Reduce child mortality, and

5) Improve maternal health. The said program has two objectives: 1) Social Assistance, which

aims to grant cash assistance to the poor to address their immediate need; and 2) Social

Development, which aims to break the intergenerational poverty cycle through investments in

human capital.

Despite the good objectives of the program, there were still parts of it which researches

proved that needs to be revised for its more excellent outcome. A 2005 United Nations

Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) paper questioned CCT programs if

such were useful in education. It stated that “without access to a basic quality education, CCT

programs can be neither rationalized nor efficient. But even such basic quality education is

available, lower utilization by children from extremely poor families is still observed” (Reimers,

DeShano da Silva, & Treviño, 2006, p. 29).

more effective for secondary than primary schooling, as CCTs reduced drop-out rates more

among secondary school students than those in primary school. Moreover, it concluded that

programs that impose conditions on school achievement, such as not failing, and provide cash

grants less frequently are more effective than programs that have conditions merely on

attendance. A study made by Marcum-Mullins (2017) emphasized that CCT programs involve

keeping children enrolled in school and ensuring they have good academic performance. On the

other hand, his study pointed out that comprehending how the thinking and rationale change

from international funders, national governments, local governments, school systems, teachers,

parents, up until the students. He concluded that if national governments would not be able to

improve school systems, “it is easier for neo-liberal institutions to make privatization policy

recommendations,” which would eventually make the marginalized more left behind (Marcum-

Mullins, 2017, p. 35). These studies somehow confirmed that the Conditional Cash Transfer or

the so called 4P’s now was not effective in the primary level because the program prioritized the

increased in attendance rather than on the grades of the beneficiaries.

In a study on the Impact of 4P’s in Tagbina II District by Kirk Andrew Abellanosa (2014)

The Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program is no doubt plays a significant role in reenergizing the

Philippine educational System. Since its implementation in 2008, the enrolment and daily

attendance had increased prior the implementation of the program. The data shows that the drop-

out rate had decreased from 3.52% in S.Y 2006-2007 to 0.76% in S.Y 2009-2010 to 0.52% in

S.Y 2012-2013. The data also shows an increased-on promotion rate from 91.76% in S.Y 2006

2007 to 95.28% in S.Y 2009-2010 to 96.43% in S.Y 2012-2013.

Delivery of the Conditional Cash Transfer Program in Bagac, Bataan, revealed that the number

of children who attend day care centers and elementary schools has increased as a result of the

4Ps program; the level grade 4 had the highest increase (7.2%) this school year. In addition to

these, a study entitled Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps): Assistance to Pupil’s

Education by Monica M. Montilla et al. 2015, revealed that because of 4p’s, pupils are able to

attend classes and they are motivated to go to school every day. The study also revealed that their

parents/guardian are able to pay their school contributions and their parents/guardian are able to

provide their school requirements (projects, school supplies, allowance, etc.) Findings also

revealed that 4P’s beneficiaries are attending classes regularly.

The result of the program is impressively positive since its implementation in 2007

according to Santiago (2010), cited that the initial study on the pilot areas of the program such as

in Esperanza and Sibagat, Agusan del Sur showed promising results because the elementary

school enrollment has increased by fifteen percent (15%). Furthermore, have a higher attendance

rate compared to the general population of all the enrollees of the school. In the aspect of the use

of health services by pregnant women, there is also an increase compared to 2007 and there has

also been a significant increase in the vaccination rate as well as a decrease in prevalence of

malnutrition among children.

In addition, Meanwhile, Reyes and Mina (2011) found out that the program led to an

increase of 3 to 4.6 percentage points in the school participation rate of children aged 6-14. The

results showed that around 96.3 percent of children of 4Ps families attend school. For the

matched non-4Ps families, the rate ranges from 91.7 to 93.3 percent.

However, additional findings show that 4Ps does not influence school participation of
children beyond the age coverage. The difference between the school participation rate of 4Ps

beneficiaries and matched non-4Ps age groups 15 to 18 turned out to be insignificant. This led to

the proposal to extend support to existing 4Ps beneficiaries to allow students to graduate from

high school. In this regard the researcher considered it worthwhile to find out if 4Ps has a high

significant effect on the academic performance of pupil beneficiaries regardless of their grade

level because the fund allotted for elementary grades can be utilized to extend the support until

the beneficiaries will graduate in college for the assurance of the success of the program in lifting

up educational attainment of Filipino learners.

Despite of the positive results of the program in terms of drop-out rates, promotion rate

and attendance, critiques of the program argued that it is still a question whether school

attendance will translate into academic achievement, completion of education, and eventually

gainful employment. So, the researcher also wants to determine if there is a significant

relationship between the attendance of the pupil beneficiaries and their academic performance

because the result of the increase in the attendance might be just a compliance in the required

85% class attendance for them not to be disqualified in the program.

It was also shown in the recent results of the evaluation studies on 4Ps that there has no

significant negative impact on the work effort of household heads and this leads to the increased

school participation of children, and as a result, there is also an increase in the household

consumption of educational-related goods in household. These findings were considered as early

indicators of success of the 4Ps program.

Moreover, Orbeta (2011) stated that the implementation of the program made the parents

the importance of education and now they work to compensate for loss of income from children
who attend school. Since recipients are obliged to attend Family Development Sessions, they

now publicly recognize the importance of education, and are convinced to keep their children in

school.

Parents also played a vital role in the education of their children. In the 4Ps program, they

are the ones responsible in managing the benefits given to the grantees. On parental involvement

and academic achievement, studies have shown to date that the two variables seem to be

positively related. Findings have demonstrated that parent’s involvement in the education of the

children has been found to be of benefit to parents, children, and schools (Tella and Tella 2003;

Campbell, 1995; Rich, 1987). Rasinki and Fredrick’s (1988) concluded that parents play an

invaluable role in laying the foundation for their children’s learning; Zang and Carrasquillo

(1995) also similarly remarked that when children are surrounded by caring, capable parents and

are able to enjoy nurturing and moderate competitive kinship, a foundation for literacy is built

with no difficulty. Cotton and Wikelund (2005) ably capped it by asserting that the more

intensively parents are involved in their children’s learning; the more beneficial are the

achievement effects. Thus, it is believed that when parents monitor homework, encourage

participation in extracurricular activities, are active in parents –teacher associations, and help

children develop plans for their future; children are more likely to respond and do well in school.

Based on the results of Sixty-six studies, Henderson and Berla (1994) were of the opinion that

repeated evidence has confirmed that the most accurate predictor of student achievement is the

extent to which the family is involved in the child’s education, and not the family ‘s level of

income. As a matter of fact, McMillan (2000a) noted that parental pressure has a positive and

significant effect on public school performance. This becomes particularly obvious when the

exactness of the parental pressure is brought to bear on the children’s academic performance.
Similarly, Schickedanz (1995) also reported that children of passive parents were found to

perform poorly academically. Valez in Ryan (2005) reported that academic performance is

positively related to having parents who enforce rules at home. The obviousness of the research

findings reported in this study is that family involvement improves facets of children’s education

such as daily attendance (e.g. Cotton & Wikelund, 2001; Simon, 2000), student achievement

(e.g. Cotton & Wikelund, 2001; Sheldom & Epst tein, 2001a, Simon, 2000; Van Voorhis, 2001)

behaviour (e.g.Sheldom & Epstein, 2001b; Cotton &Wikelund, 2001; Simon, 2000) and

motivation (e.g. Cotton & Wikelund, 2001; Brooks, Bruno &Burns, 1997). It is on this note that

(Deutsher and Ibe, n.d*) posited it was expected that parent involvement would have a large role

on children’s performance. The foregoing, have shown that one of the greatest barriers to high

academic achievement for a good number of students, is lack of parental involvement in

children’s education. In sum, research has shown that parents do want to get along with their

children’s education knowing fully well that such involvement could promote better

achievement. However, parents need a better little direction as to how they can effectively do

this. According to a magazine reports (2002),six types of programs could be utilized by schools

to build strong parental skills .These are: one, school can assist families with parenting and child-

rearing skills; two, schools can communicate with families about school programs and students’

progress and needs; three, school can work to improve families as volunteers in school activities;

four, schools can encourage families to be involved in learning activities at home; five, schools

can include parents as participants in important schools decisions, and six, schools can

coordinate with business and agencies to provide resources and services for families, student,

and the community. The importance of these programs further attest to the fact that student’s

academic performance is dependent upon the parent-school bond. Thus, the importance of
parental involvement on academic performance cannot be overemphasized. The stronger the

relationship, especially between the parents and their wards’ education, the higher the academic

achievement. Adeyemo (2005) saw reason in this by stressing that there is need to foster home

school partnership. In his attempt to give more meaning to his contribution on parental

involvement and children’s education, (Epstein,1997) put up a model in which he analyzed how

children learn and grow through three overlapping spheres of influence: family school and

community. According to him, these three spheres must form partnership to best meet the needs

of the child. Epstein (1997) again identified six types of involvement based on the relationships

between the families, school and community. These are: parenting (skills), communicating,

volunteering, learning at home, decision making, and collaborating with the community. He

stressed it clearly that these six types of involvement need to be included to have successful

partnerships (between the home and the school). Baker and Soden (1997) remarked that much of

the research that examined the relationships between parent involvement and children’s

education assesses parent involvement by utilizing one particular measure, such as counting the

number of parents that volunteer, coming to meetings, or coming to parent-teacher conferences.

Other studies utilized measures that consists of a view closed-ended questions that target

particular aspect of parent – involvement and often focus on the number of times parents

participate in some particular events (Goldring &Shapira,1993; Griffith,1996; Grolnick &

Slowiczek,1994, Zellman &Waterman ,1998). According to Baker and Soden (1997), this type

of measure does not allow for a rich picture of parent involvement, nor generate new ideas. In

this review so far, efforts have been made on what researchers have published on emotional

intelligence and parental involvement, and how these could impact on academic achievement.
 So, as the studies proved that parental involvement can be of help in improving the

academic performance of their children, the researcher now wants to investigate if 4Ps has a

significant impact in motivating parents to be more involve in the studies of their children for a

better result of their academic achievement compare to those whose children are non-4Ps

beneficiaries.

The researcher thought that since the Philippine government invested billions to sustain

the program and to improve monetary assistance to the students who belong to the marginalized

families, she was motivated to study the effect of 4P’s to the academic performance of the pupil-

beneficiaries of the complete elementary schools of Sal-lapadan District including their Primary

cluster schools. More so, the researcher wants to investigate if the program contributed in

motivating the parent-grantees to be more involve in their children’s education which can lead to

their more improved academic performance.

Among other programs of the government that concern with uplifting Philippine

education, this particular program sparked the interest of the researcher because many of the

researches about this were made in cities and other progressive provinces focusing merely on

secondary education. So, she is curious if findings in other places and in secondary level is the

same in far flung places in an elementary level this time.