4Ps Program Is Like Waiting For A Shower Of Gold Coins

I remembered the time I used to watch that crap dub of Bioman way before I started watching Bioman subbed by Grown Ups In Spandex. I ended up remembering one particular episode namely the fifth episode where golden coins made one city of Japan into a vice city. People were getting lazy and nobody wanted to work. Only when the Biomen ended New Empire Gear's gold coin sham did people go back to work and earn money the right way.

The same can be true for the 4Ps program which means Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program. In English it means Bridging Program for the Filipino Family. Here's what the Official Gazette has to say about 4Ps:

The 4Ps has dual objectives as the flagship poverty alleviation program of the Aquino administration:

1. social assistance, giving monetary support to extremely poor families to respond to their immediate eeds; and
2. social development, breaking the intergenerational poverty cycle by investing in the health and education of poor children through programs such as:

• health check-ups for pregnant women and children aged 0 to 5;
• deworming of schoolchildren aged 6 to 14;
• enrollment of children in daycare, elementary, and secondary schools; and
• family development sessions.

The 4Ps also helps the Philippine government fulfill its commitment to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)—specifically in eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, in achieving universal primary education, in promoting gender equality, in reducing child mortality, and in improving maternal health care.

This is the problem of fighting poverty using 4Ps as it makes people dependent. Instead of providing long term solutions it proposes the idiotic idea of a welfare state. Whoever says that 4Ps will create jobs is dreaming for this reason. What jobs? Giving monetary support is not the same as getting a salary or having earnings if you're self-employed. If you're self-employed that's still a job. Legally self-employed people still have a job as much as the people they employ. Besides, how sure is this certain idiot when he says that the money is used to spend on kangkong, rice and the like? Some may even be using 4Ps to buy stuff they don't really need such as i-Phones and expensive motorcycles. Some even buy a car when they can't even afford gas or get an air conditioner when one can't even pay for higher electricity.

Here's an illustration of the pushcart. Imagine that all the people here are Filipinos (though any nationality may apply). We have the 37% of Filipinos riding the cart and 63% of Filipinos who are pulling the cart. So it begins with Filipinos who pay taxes to provide for 4Ps for the 37% but where does it end? Well the more you expand 4Ps the more we have Filipinos who will ride the cart and lesser Filipinos pulling the cart. Rather than having people who are disabled or elderly as the only ones riding the cart -- it ends up with people who can still contribute in any way riding the cart rather than pulling the cart. That's exactly how 4Ps will end up in one way or another.

The better solution over 4Ps is to open up the economy or invite for Foreign Direct Investment. It's crazy for someone to say that FDI is colonial mentality all the while the same person is still on the Internet or working in a foreign country. FDI is not charity and that's true. Better said -- FDI is not mendicancy which is really true. Instead, it's all about providing jobs for more countrymen who can't get jobs from local businessmen. Take it or leave it is the game. In turn, if a Filipino businessman is wise then he can take opportunity to use the foreign investors to make himself more powerful through gaining more suppliers, service providers and not to mention customers. 

Whoever says FDI is not a source of income and 4Ps is an investment is dreaming even if that said person claims he's very knowledgeable in economics. 4Ps is not an investment but an outflow of income with no promise of return. All the government would do is to give monetary support instead of giving jobs. What's the guarantee that these poor people will invest it in the bank or use it as support as they find a job? FDI is a source of income for this reason. First, FDIs in the Philippines are under Filipino control. Second, FDI's income must be declared every month which in turn will generate income for the Philippine economy. 4Ps is an outflow while taxes gained from FDI are an inflow. All 4Ps does is to revolve the money with little to no increase while FDI increases the amount of money at a much bigger rate.

An illustration is just like a mall or a commercial building. Which mall earns more income? The one with very few tenants or the one with more tenants? It's obviously the one with more tenants. Did the tenants take over the mall? No. They are still subjected to the rules of the mall. FDIs are just like tenants. They are renting space in the Philippines even if they own 100% ownership in terms of intangible assets. If they don't comply then they can risk getting prosecuted by the law. The Philippine law has jurisdiction over FDIs and not the FDIs have jurisdiction over the Philippines. In turn, FDIs provide job opportunities while 4Ps only makes people wait for their money.