‘Anomalous’ poverty program, opposed by solons

Representatives Luz Ilagan and Emmi de Jesus, both with the Gabriela Party-list, strongly decried the increase in allocations towards the “anomalous” Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), the name given to the conditional cash transfer (CCT) program of the Aquino government.

“We do not support the additional funds. From the very start, we already objected to the dole-out. Our poor need jobs for sustainable and dignified livelihood. There are anomalies connected to the processes,” Ilagan said.

“The program has not been evaluated fully to warrant increases. The funds are borrowed. It encourages the attitude of mendicancy and entitlement. CCT was a failure in other countries,” she added.

Like Ilagan, De Jesus expressed her dissent, saying that the government should instead continuously provide jobs to the poor, instead of making them dependent on government resources such, she expressed that the whole premise of the CCT as a poverty alleviation program could only yield disastrous results.

Ronaldo Zamora, House Minority leader, had earlier proposed the abolition of the P64.7-billion CCT fund from the national budget,even as he voiced out his opinion that the hand-out program did not really improve the living conditions of the Filipino poor.

In similar manner, Isabela Rep. Rodito Albano, said that should date confirm that the 4P’s has insignificant or no impact bettering the lives of poor Filipinos, he would bring the matter to the attention of his colleagues and call for the cessation of the CCT allocation.

“Why waste money on a project that doesn’t make an impact on the poor?” he said.

Expressing a dissimilar viewpoint, Speaker Feliciano “Sonny” Belmonte Jr. made known to all his full support for the expansion of the CCT program.

He stated his belief that the CCT has has improved the lives of poverty-afflicted Filipinos, and that expanding the program would benefit 4,309,769 indigent families across the nation.

These opinions were all in reaction to a prior announcement made on Wednesday by Budget Secretary Florencio “Butch” Abad, when he revealed to the House committee on appropriations that there would be a 3-percent raise in the CCT budge; bringing the amount up to P64.7 billion in 2015, compared to P62.6 billion this year.

Under the CCT program and with its expansion in 2015, the Aquino government expects two million families to be brought up from a survival level, to a subsistence level; furthermore, that 300,000 families will be raised from the level of subsistence to the level of self-sufficiency.