Govt steps up cash handouts to poor

Five million of the Philippines’ poorest families will receive cash or health-insurance benefits from the government this year, President Gloria Arroyo’s spokesman said on Friday.

A total of 321,000 families—double the original target—will qualify for cash handouts of up to P9,000 ($187.50) this year, Cerge Remonde, also the Press secretary, told reporters.

More than 100,000 Filipinos have either lost their jobs or suffered pay cuts as the effects of the global financial crisis hit the Philippines.

The country has been struck by plunging exports amid falling demand from recession-plagued overseas markets, according to data from the Labor department.

Under the plans, five million families will receive the equivalent of P1,200 each in the form of medical insurance coverage, Remonde said.

The government will also retrain half a million young people aged between 15 and 24 “which is the biggest segment of the unemployed population,” he added.

The government says nine million Filipinos or 10 percent of the population—are now jobless or underemployed.

The Asian Development Bank had said that Philippine economic growth would slow to 2.5 percent this year compared with 6.4 percent in 2008.
–AFP