THE government is moving to institutionalize the workforce behind its flagship poverty-reduction program, with the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) approving 5,703 regular positions for Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) operations nationwide.
The new positions are part of a broader staffing expansion at the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), with budget authorities approving 5,711 regular positions — most of them involved in the 4Ps — and more than 21,000 contractual positions to strengthen the workforce supporting the government’s major social protection programs.
“This means a stronger organization on the ground and clearer career opportunities for qualified personnel who have long been doing the work,” Budget Secretary Kim Robert de Leon said in a statement on Thursday.
The appointments, de Leon said, will remain subject to applicable Civil Service laws, rules and regulations.
“We are strengthening not only the program, but also the people behind it,” he added.
The staffing approval covers the institutionalization of the 4Ps Bureau at the DSWD Central Office, the creation of eight organizational units under the bureau and the establishment of a 4Ps Division in each of the agency’s 17 regional offices.
Of the 5,703 approved regular positions, 5,542 will support the 4Ps divisions in 17 regional offices. Another 85 regular positions will augment regional operations covering financial, administrative, logistics, information and communications technology, and general support functions.
At the DSWD Central Office, the DBM approved 64 positions for the 4Ps Bureau, consisting of 63 regular positions and one contractual position, while 12 positions were approved for DSWD’s Human Resource Management and Development Service, Financial Management Service and Social Marketing Service.
Data from DBM showed that 20,686 contractual positions were created for qualified contract of service (COS) and job order (JO) workers under the 4Ps from 2014 to 2025. This was on top of the earlier conversion of 314 qualified COS/JO workers into contractual positions.
The DBM also approved additional contractual positions for workers supporting other DSWD programs.
In June 2026, the agency approved 75 contractual positions for the Supplementary Feeding Program, 160 for the Kapangyarihan at Kaunlaran sa Barangay program and 70 for the Pag-Abot Program.
Another 43 contractual positions had earlier been approved for the Enhanced Partnership Against Hunger and Poverty Program.
The staffing measures are intended to strengthen the government’s capacity to implement social protection programs, particularly those requiring extensive field operations and direct engagement with beneficiaries.
“Strengthening DSWD’s workforce means strengthening the government’s capacity to deliver help where and when it is needed,” de Leon said.
This also supports the institutionalization of the 4Ps under Republic Act 11310, which mandates the DSWD to serve as the program’s central planning, coordinating, implementing and monitoring body.
The 4Ps is the government’s flagship poverty reduction and human capital investment program. It provides conditional cash transfers to qualified poor households, with assistance linked to conditions intended to support health, nutrition and education outcomes.
