Palace reiterates commitment to help poor get out of poverty

Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda

MANILA — Malacanang on Monday reiterated the government’s commitment to helping the poorest get out of poverty with the implementation of the conditional cash transfer (CCT) program and other poverty alleviation interventions.

“It will be, to a large extent, it will be criminal for us not to help the poorest of the poor and that’s our commitment—that no one should be left behind,” said Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda in a press briefing.

Lacierda cited World Bank (WB) 2011 simulations indicating that the Philippine CCT program could increase annual incomes of beneficiaries by 12.6 percent.

The simulations, undertaken with the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID), also showed that the beneficiaries’ higher income could result in the reduction of poverty incidence among them by 6.2 percentage points.

“This is proved by our APIS (Annual Poverty Indicators Survey) where (there was) three-point (decline) –the poverty rate has gone down from 27 (percent) to 24 (percent),” he said.

Lacierda said the CCT program identifies poor beneficiaries through the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR).

“Tinutulungan natin ang pinakamahirap and uplifting them up so that itong mga ito magkakaroon ng oportunidad na makahanap ng trabaho. Para makahanap ng trabaho, dapat malusog ka. That’s why not only do we need to focus on CCT as a poverty alleviation intervention, we have (also) the universal health coverage,” he said.

To ensure that the CCT benefits the poor, Lacierda said beneficiaries have commitments such as sending their children to schools while mothers receiving primary health care.

“May monitoring na ginagawa ang DSWD (Department of Social Welfare Development)…Meron tayong grievance mechanism dito sa CCT program. You have to comply,” he said.

Apart from the CCT program, Lacierda said the government is implementing other poverty alleviation interventions including the sustainable livelihood program, the Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan–Comprehensive Integrated Delivery of Social Service (KALAHI-CIDSS) and the micro-enterprise development program.

“And, certainly, much more has to be done,” he added.