Noy: I govern based on facts, not surveys

BATANGAS CITY, Philippines - – Statistics or surveys provided by pollsters regarding self-rated poverty always vary and this is not what the government is basing its anti-poverty alleviation efforts on, President Aquino said yesterday.    

“Please bear with me, but I don’t govern on surveys. I govern based on facts,” he told reporters who covered the groundbreaking for the 414-megawatt power plant of the Lopez-owned First Gen Co. in Barangay Sta. Rita here.             

Aquino pointed out the flaws in the latest Social Weather Stations survey, where most of the respondents were victims of man-made and natural calamities in the Visayas and Mindanao, who would logically say that life did not turn out well for them in 2013.    

He said that results on self-rated hunger are “not a constant figure.”     

The President vowed to continue the conditional cash transfer (CCT) program for the poor in order to keep their children in school and making sure that the family members remain in good health.              

“Perhaps what I want to highlight here is that the intervention we are making is not just for the short term but for the long term,” Aquino said, adding that the program will not just be limited to grade school but will be extended to high school.                 

“We are helping them improve their lot by making sure that they will be covered by the inclusive growth that we want to achieve. We want to give them skills so that they can actively participate in the growth of our economy,” he said.            

The Aquino administration’s 2014 budget for the CCT program has tripled to P62.6 billion, from a low of P29.2 billion in 2011.

Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. told a news briefing last November that allocations for the CCT and 4Ps (Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program) programs have increased every year, and an additional P10 billion was allotted for this year’s budget.              

Coloma said the latest augmentation in the budget of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) was “based on the recommendation of the Philippine Institute for Development Studies.”  Budget records showed that when Aquino took over in mid-2010, the government sought – and obtained – Congress’ approval of its P29.2 billion in 2011 that gradually rose to P39.4 billion in 2012 and P44.3 billion in 2013.

This is a far cry from the P10 billion former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo had allocated for DSWD in 2010, P5 billion in 2009 and P299 million in 2008. 

‘Noy becoming a Teflon president’

Like former President Fidel Ramos during his watch, President Aquino is becoming a Teflon president midway into his term, Rep. Elpidio Barzaga Jr. of Dasmariñas City in Cavite said yesterday.         

Barzaga said the latest Pulse Asia survey “is proof that controversies do not affect P-Noy’s popularity and the support and trust he enjoys from the people.”         

“His 73-percent approval rating is still very high, though it has fallen from 79 percent. It means that nearly three in four Filipinos approve of what he is doing and support him,” he said.         

The lawmaker noted that Aquino kept his high mark despite the controversies that hounded his administration and his congressional allies on the pork barrel and disbursement acceleration program funds, and the Yolanda disaster.        

The administration was even criticized supposedly for not reacting promptly to the calamity and for the alleged lack of government presence in the areas devastated by the monster storm, he added.   â€“ Jess Diaz