An alleged beneficiary of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) was caught playing a popular gambling game in the Philippines amid the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) being imposed by the government in Metro Manila.
The video uploader, netizen Joyce Mance who works at the City Government of Biñan, Laguna, confronted an old lady who has caught playing ‘tong-its’ together with her friends, despite the ban of the government in any types of gambling amid the ECQ.
It can be shown that the lady and her friends are not practicing social distancing.
Mance accused the lady of being angry with the government while at the same time she’s also violating the ECQ rules.
The netizen also recognized the lady as a beneficiary of 4Ps and accused her of pawning her ATM card to sustain her gambling needs.
“Galit na Galit kayo sa Gobyerno tapos pag hinuli kayo nagagalit kayo sa Pangulo ng HOA. Grabe ka nman member k ng 4Ps diba tapos sinasanla nyo Atm at ng to TONG ITS ka,” Mance wrote.
It can be seen that the old lady didn’t stop playing her favorite card game while arguing with Mance.
“Wala akong pakialam,” the lady told Mance.
4Ps aims to end poverty in the country, however, some of its beneficiaries like what you saw in the video posted by Mance are not spending the money they received wisely.
Last February, 6 beneficiaries of 4Ps face court charges after they allegedly used the money they received from the government in illegal gambling activities.
Critics of 4Ps urged the government to stop the said program, explaining that it’s only a waste of public funds as some of its beneficiaries are not using their money correctly.
They also said that there’s favoritism happening in 4Ps, believing that some beneficiaries are using their connections and not really belonged to the poorest of the poor families.
Some of them also fear the people like that woman on the video posted by Mance would also receive financial aid from the government as part of its social amelioration program.
However, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles already clarified that 4Ps beneficiaries are not included to the social amelioration aid.
“Noong ginawa ang calculation na 18 million low income families, hindi na po kasama iyong sa 4Ps kasi nabigyan na po ito ng emergency subsidy [bukod pa sa regular 4Ps cash grant]. Hindi na po sila kasama sa bibigyan ng Social Amelioration Card (SAC) ng LGU,” Nograles said.