Noy seeks P881-million funds for 'internal refugees' in 2011 budget

MANILA, Philippines - President Aquino is seeking P881 million for a food-for work program for tens of thousands of “internal refugees,” or persons displaced by internal conflicts in Mindanao and other parts of the country.

The amount is part of the President’s proposed P1.645-trillion 2011 national budget.

Cotabato Rep. Jesus Sacdalan, chairman of the House committee on peace and development, supported the planned food-for-work program, saying it is the best way of helping people dislocated by the war against terrorists and insurgents.

“Sending relief goods to evacuation centers has a limited effect. But giving displaced people work gives them not only money to get by but the dignity that comes with working for your own money,” he said.

Sacdalan, a former governor of the province, said the idea of paying people to improve their own community – as they are expected to build roads, repair schools and rehabilitate irrigation canals – ensures that there will be “physical results” of what is otherwise a dole-out program.

“The good thing about this approach is that recipients, in exchange for aid received, will give something back to their community,” he said.

Sacdalan added that a food-for-work program in conflict areas will also aid the search for peace.

“If unemployment fuels civil strife, then this program addresses one of the causes,” he stressed.

Sacdalan pointed out that the planned food-for-work program for internal refugees is the biggest of its kind ever attempted by the government.

The program for displaced persons forms part of the basket of conditional cash transfers (CCTs) the Aquino administration would roll out next year.

Projected to cost a total of P29.2 billion, other direct aid initiatives bundled under the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program are the CCT for indigent families (P21.2 billion), supplemental feeding program (P2.9 billion), and rice subsidy program (P4.2 billion).