Gov’t to improve P44-B CCT program next year

MANILA, Philippines - The government intends to improve the administration of the P44-billion conditional cash transfer (CCT) or Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) next year.

“To enable more people, especially the poor, to benefit from the economic growth, the improvement of the human development status shall continue to be targeted,” Budget Secretary Florencio Abad said in a recent memorandum to agency heads.

The 4Ps, according to Abad, “will be pursued and enhanced as the banner anti-poverty program of government through the better targeting of the poor and by strengthening convergence with other programs of government in order to increase the likelihood that the beneficiaries/graduates of 4Ps will finally be able to get out of the poverty trap.”

“The upgrading of human capital resources, by reducing the inequalities in access and in quality across the different regions of the country and across the different income classes, will lead to higher labor quality and productivity,” he added.

The CCT program gives a monthly cash assistance of up to P1,000 to at least three million “poorest of the poor” households throughout the country. It has a P44.3-billion budget for this year. Its funding would likely increase next year.

Despite the huge amount that the government has been spending, a recent report by the National Statistics Coordination Board showed that poverty in the country has remained at 28-29 percent.

The Commission on Audit has reported flaws in the administration of the CCT program. Many beneficiaries were found not belonging to the poorest of the poor and therefore not qualified to receive monthly cash subsidy.

Among qualified beneficiaries, many were discovered to have surrendered their CCT automated teller machine (ATM) cards to usurers in exchange for loans, interest on which was collected in advance by the lenders.

Abad said aside from the CCT program, the government would try to make people feel the effect of economic growth by expanding access to “affordable health services.”

Universal healthcare coverage will be funded “using the proceeds of the sin tax reform law,” estimated to reach at least P33 billion this year, he said.

“Access of the poor to modern public health care facilities will be bolstered with the construction and rehabilitation and the improvement of facilities of the barangay health stations and rural health units nationwide,” he said.

Abad also envisions reforms in public tertiary education “to improve its quality and responsiveness to the market demand for skills.”