Congress panel to review P39-billion CCT program

MANILA, Philippines - An oversight committee will review the Aquino administration’s P39-billion poverty alleviation program in preparation for deliberations on the 2013 proposed national budget, Senate finance committee chairman Franklin Drilon said yesterday.

Drilon and House committee on appropriations chairman Joseph Emilio Abaya have scheduled a briefing with the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) tomorrow to discuss the developments in the implementation of the conditional cash transfer (CCT) program or the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program.

Drilon and Abaya chair the joint congressional oversight committee on public expenditures.

“It is important that we conduct a review of the effectiveness and efficiency of the conditional cash transfer program that is primarily conceptualized to uplift the lives of the poorest Filipino families,” Drilon said in a statement.

Drilon said that P39 billion – from P21 billion in 2011 – was allocated for the CCT program this year.

“We would like to hear from Social Welfare Secretary Dinky Soliman if her agency has successfully plugged in some of the loopholes that we and some concerned sectors have identified,” he said.

Drilon said he would look into the issues confronting the integrity of the program, including the cleaning up of the list of beneficiaries. He said only the poorest families should benefit from the program and that politicians who are running in the 2013 elections should not use it for their advantage.

He said he would also ask the DSWD and the Department of Budget and Management about the funding requirement in the coming years to ensure the successful implementation of the program.