432,000 families get P2-billion cash grant

OVER 432,000 families in the country’s remote areas received P2 billion in cash under the government’s Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) program, officials said on Wednesday.

Paolo Baltao, the president of G-Xchange Inc. (GXI), the mobile commerce subsidiary of Globe, said that the P2 billion cash grants went to the 432,510 households in 300 far-flung municipalities nationwide via G-Cash Remit, GXI’s domestic cash-pick up service.

The CCT program is a three year-old poverty reduction program giving out cash assistance to the poorest of the poor.

Beneficiaries must comply with certain conditions that promote human development: (1) beneficiary children 3-5 years old must attend daycare/pre-school at least 85 percent of the time, (2) children 6-14 years old must attend school at least 85 percent of the time, (3) children 0-5 years old must get regular health check-up and vaccinations, (4) children 6-14 years old must undergo deworming sessions every six months, (5) parents must attend responsible parenthood sessions and pregnant women must get pre-and post-natal care and be attended to during childbirth by a skilled/trained birth attendant.

Under the CCT program, beneficiaries complying with the conditions will get a maximum cash grant of P1,400 monthly, provided that that such household has a pregnant mother and three children aged 0 to 14 years old.

Of the P1,400, P900 is allotted for the education of the three children, while P500 goes to medical assistance for the family.

Cash transfers were made thru G-CASH Remit’s payout centers Green Bank in Butuan City, Rhudarda Multipurpose Cooperative of Polilio Islands in Quezon, Golden Financials of Misamis Oriental and Lanao del Norte, and M and M Cell Depot in Tagbilaran City, Bohol and in Palawan, among others.

“The beneficiaries do not have to pay any fee. They get the amount in full,” Baltao said during a press conference held in Quezon City that was also attended by Department of Social Welfare and Development Assistant Secretary Parisya Taraji, also the deputy director of the CCT program.

To get the cash grant, the CCT beneficiaries would have to present a form issued by the DSWD, reference code and identification card also from the DSWD to the payout centers.

They would get their cash assistance within 45 seconds to one minute.

“This [CCT program] is designed to make the parents responsible for their children. It’s the parents who are held accountable,” Taraji pointed out.

Bu she conceded that not all beneficiaries were able to get the maximum amount of P1,400.

“On the average, the beneficiaries get around P1,200 because it depends on the compliance. The excess funding will be used to cover possible additional households,” Taraji said.

There are 2.1 million households enlisted under the CCT program.

Of this number, at least 1.6 million households are receiving the monthly P1,400 cash grant.
The government targets to enroll at least 2.3 million households by the end of the year.

The CCT beneficiaries, however, will only be covered by the program for five years at the maximum to give a chance to the other poorest of the poor to benefit from the program. –LLANESCA T. PANTI REPORTER, Manila Times