BUTUAN CITY – The Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) has already accommodated some 16,757 beneficiaries of the government’s “Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program” or 4Ps in one of Lanao del Norte’s town alone in Northern Mindanao.

Northern Mindanao Social Welfare and Development Officer 1 Retchie B. Tolinero said the LBP Branch in Tubod town have served the beneficiaries through the bank’s over-the-counter (OTC) payments.

For more than ten months now, Lanao del Norte has been a recipient of 4Ps – a strategy of the government to alleviate poverty by providing cash grants to the poorest households, effecting improvements in health, nutrition and education specifically of children aged 0 to 14 years, said the region’s social welfare information officer.

The fast-tracking of 4Ps program in that province was done through the all out effort of Northern Mindanao Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Regional Director Araceli F. Solamillo and Lanao del Norte Gov. Mohamad Khalid Dimaporo, the LBP management and local chief executives.

In that province alone, the LBP noted the increase in the number of beneficiaries catered per day from 300 to an average of 650 in a day, the information officer further added.

“The DSWD works closely with the LBP and other partner agencies to fully serve the purpose of the 4Ps program not only in that province but for the whole region,” Tolinero said.

Jesus Leyva, LBP Tubod branch manager, shared that as a partner agency, the bank is tapping all the resources it has so that it can provide the services that its clients need.

“We have added some strategies to speed up our services to the beneficiaries,” added the LBP branch manager.

“Even if the program is just for survival of the poor families each day, people will see that they are not forsaken by the government and in return, they are striving for a better life,” Leyva added.