Enrile questions choice of ‘poor’ areas for CCT

SENATE President Juan Ponce Enrile questioned Tuesday the choice of several towns and barangays as beneficiaries of the P21-billion conditional cash transfer (CCT) program to be undertaken by the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

At the floor debates on the social Welfare department budget, Enrile expressed surprise that the poorest barangays in Cagayan were not included in the list of the program beneficiaries while an affluent barangay hosting Port Irene is in the list.

“Barangay Corongan in Gonzaga town, which is probably the poorest barangay in the entire country, is not in the list. Whoever gave you those data do not know the province of Cagayan,” he said during his interpellation of Sen. Franklin Drilon, the sponsor of the department budget.

Drilon, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, said he would ask the Social Welfare department to review its list of poorest barangays.

Drilon acknowledged the controversial nature of the CCT when he said at the start of his sponsorship: “I am now ready to be tortured, I mean, to be interpellated.” Earlier, Enrile described the program as probably the most contentious item in the P1.645-trillion budget proposed for 2011.

Sen. Ferdinand Marcos 2nd, the first to interpellate Drilon on the CCT, said that the identification of beneficiaries is very crucial for the success of the program.

“A mistake of just 1 percent is already P210 million so we should be very careful considering our scarce resources. If there are big inaccuracies at the very start, these inaccuracies will become bigger,” Marcos said.

He also questioned the capability of the department to implement the sudden expansion of the CCT program from a budget of P10 billion and 1 million beneficiaries in 2010 to P21 billion and 2.3 million for 2011.

“We should strengthen the program to reach as many beneficiaries as possible but I think an increase of 100 percent is too much. We should be less ambitious and try to be realistic about what we can and cannot achieve,” he said, while stressing he favors the program as a concept.

Drilon had said that the P21 billion for CCT would be released in tranches. He added that if Social Welfare department would show itself to be incapable of implementing the program for a certain month, the tranche for the next month would be reduced.

Marcos questioned what would happen to the savings on the CCT program.

“Will it go back to the national government? Where will it be spent? To the unprogrammed portion? We haven’t discussed that yet,” he said.

Sotto suspended what he called “flagellation” on the CCT budget to make way for the approval of the budgets of other agencies where no senator has signed up to ask questions. Those approved were the budgets of the Department of Science and Technology, the Development Academy of the Philippines, the Commission on Filipinos Overseas, the Commission on Land Use, the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board, the National Commission on Culture and the Arts, the National Historical Commission, the National Archives, the Optical Media Board, the Philippine Sports Commission and the Pasig River Rehabilitation Commission.

As of press time, Sen. Ralph Recto was still interpellating Drilon. At least two other senators, Francis Pangilinan and Francis Escudero, are next in line. The Senate has scheduled morning, afternoon and evening deliberations on the budget to be able to pass it by next week. Drilon is confident that the bicameral conference committee would be able to reconcile the conflicting provisions of the House and Senate versions of the budget before Congress goes on holiday break on December 17. —
Enrile questions choice of ‘poor’ areas for CCT

PDFPrintE-mail

Wednesday, 01 December 2010 00:00
AddThis Social Bookmark Button

By Efren L. Danao, Senior Reporter

SENATE President Juan Ponce Enrile questioned Tuesday the choice of several towns and barangays as beneficiaries of the P21-billion conditional cash transfer (CCT) program to be undertaken by the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
At the floor debates on the social Welfare department budget, Enrile expressed surprise that the poorest barangays in Cagayan were not included in the list of the program beneficiaries while an affluent barangay hosting Port Irene is in the list.
“Barangay Corongan in Gonzaga town, which is probably the poorest barangay in the entire country, is not in the list. Whoever gave you those data do not know the province of Cagayan,” he said during his interpellation of Sen. Franklin Drilon, the sponsor of the department budget.

Drilon, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, said he would ask the Social Welfare department to review its list of poorest barangays.

Drilon acknowledged the controversial nature of the CCT when he said at the start of his sponsorship: “I am now ready to be tortured, I mean, to be interpellated.” Earlier, Enrile described the program as probably the most contentious item in the P1.645-trillion budget proposed for 2011.

Sen. Ferdinand Marcos 2nd, the first to interpellate Drilon on the CCT, said that the identification of beneficiaries is very crucial for the success of the program.

“A mistake of just 1 percent is already P210 million so we should be very careful considering our scarce resources. If there are big inaccuracies at the very start, these inaccuracies will become bigger,” Marcos said.

He also questioned the capability of the department to implement the sudden expansion of the CCT program from a budget of P10 billion and 1 million beneficiaries in 2010 to P21 billion and 2.3 million for 2011.

“We should strengthen the program to reach as many beneficiaries as possible but I think an increase of 100 percent is too much. We should be less ambitious and try to be realistic about what we can and cannot achieve,” he said, while stressing he favors the program as a concept.

Drilon had said that the P21 billion for CCT would be released in tranches. He added that if Social Welfare department would show itself to be incapable of implementing the program for a certain month, the tranche for the next month would be reduced.
Marcos questioned what would happen to the savings on the CCT program.

“Will it go back to the national government? Where will it be spent? To the unprogrammed portion? We haven’t discussed that yet,” he said.

Sotto suspended what he called “flagellation” on the CCT budget to make way for the approval of the budgets of other agencies where no senator has signed up to ask questions. Those approved were the budgets of the Department of Science and Technology, the Development Academy of the Philippines, the Commission on Filipinos Overseas, the Commission on Land Use, the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board, the National Commission on Culture and the Arts, the National Historical Commission, the National Archives, the Optical Media Board, the Philippine Sports Commission and the Pasig River Rehabilitation Commission.

As of press time, Sen. Ralph Recto was still interpellating Drilon. At least two other senators, Francis Pangilinan and Francis Escudero, are next in line. The Senate has scheduled morning, afternoon and evening deliberations on the budget to be able to pass it by next week. Drilon is confident that the bicameral conference committee would be able to reconcile the conflicting provisions of the House and Senate versions of the budget before Congress goes on holiday break on December 17. –Efren L. Danao, Senior Reporter, Manila Times