ADB Loans Additional $500 Million to the Philippines to Support Struggling Filipino Families With Children

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is coming to the Philippines’ aid once more, approving an additional loan worth $500 million or P25.03 billion. The Philippines now owes ADB a total of $2.6 billion (P130.16 billion) in loans in 2020, in addition to $2.5 billion worth of total loans in 2019.

The $500 million loan will be used toward the government’s conditional cash transfer program, which targets millions of struggling Filipino families following the aftermath of quarantine and coronavirus.

The Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) provides cash assistance every two months to around 4.4 million Filipino households to help families send their children to school and ensure their health. Families who are under the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s 4Ps program are statistically proven to keep children in school and to lower incidences of hunger.

“The Philippine government is boosting social investment in Filipinos to break the decades-old intergenerational cycle of poverty,” said ADB vice president Ahmed M. Saeed. “The 4Ps program provides vulnerable households with an income supplement to help their children become educated, stay healthy, and leave poverty for good. Our evidence shows that this is working. The 4Ps program has helped 1.5 million people escape poverty since it began in 2008. Through this project loan and technical assistance support, ADB is helping the Philippines expand these gains.”  

The development bank is also loaning an addition $3.1 million worth of technical assistance that will improve development sessions, provide livelihood packages to 3,000 poor households, support IT reforms, and assist the 4Ps integration in the upcoming national ID system.

ADB has been supporting the 4Ps program for over a decade, with a total assistance amounting to almost $1.5 billion or P75 billion.