Welfare and distributionalimpacts of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program

This policy note presents the potential poverty impacts of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (Pantawid Pamilya) using simple analytical tools and the government's largest database of poor households to date, the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR). In doing so, the note also aims to encourage policy-makers and researchers to not only use the NHTS-PR for its intended purpose, that is, for objective targeting of social assistance programs, but also for analysis to maximize the utility of information contained in the database. The Note finds that the Pantawid Pamilya can reduce poverty incidence and inequality in program areas by 2.6 percentage points and 6.6 percent in a year, respectively. Increasing compliance of existing beneficiaries will enhance the poverty-reducing impacts of the Pantawid Pamilya. Expanding program coverage will produce real impacts as long as targeting and program implementation remains properly managed.