Despite leaks, doleouts to stay, says Palace

Despite the Commission on Audit (CoA) reporting huge slippages in the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) which is the government’s term for the conditional cash transfer (CCT) program, the Palace said the Aquino administration does not have any plan to introduce revisions in the mechanism of the doleout program.

Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda also assailed reports saying the government has been remiss on the program and the need to implement changes to prevent the huge funding in the program not reaching intended beneficiaries.

Among the CoA findings in the recent reports it made covering the CCT program, were huge amounts not being accounted for or liquidated and a handful those receiving the doleouts as not exactly part of the poorest of the poor since some have gainful businesses or employment.

Lacierda said the published reports quoting the “Asian-Pacific Regional MDG Report 2011/12: Accelerating Equitable Achievement of the MDGs,” showing flaws in the CCT program currently being implemented by the administration, published last February, actually contained dated information covering the implementation of the program during the Arroyo presidency.

“That does not reflect the current state of our efforts to achieve our Millennium Development Goals”, Lacierda said.
Lacierda added the data contained in the report covered the period when Aquino was still not President.

“Data presented in the report were from before the Aquino administration took office on June 30, 2010. Since then, in the area of poverty reduction, the conditional cash transfer program or Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) has been reformed and expanded. From less than a million beneficiaries before we entered office, we are now on track to cover 3.1 million by the end of this year,” he added.

He claimed even World Bank experts could attest on errors in the report.

“While the CCT program has its critics, even Junko Onishi, Social Protection Specialist of the World Bank said evidence suggested that Pantawid Pamilya is on track and having impacts on the beneficiary households,” he said.
He also cited a World Bank-AusAID report stating that 4Ps can raise its beneficiaries’ incomes by 12.6 percent and “reduce overall food poverty in program areas by 5.5 percent,” he added.

Lacierda said the 4Ps significantly contributed in the government’s poverty alleviation program.

“We maintain that the 4Ps is an investment in the best asset of the Philippines – the Filipino people and that it not only provides beneficiaries with resources but also creates, in the long term, a skilled and productive citizenry. Poverty is a social concern that government and other stakeholders have taken steps to address and reduce. It is certainly not a political pulpit from which partisans preach,” Lacierda said.

Lacierda said the government and other stakeholders have taken steps to address and reduce poverty. “It is certainly not a political pulpit from which partisans preach,” Lacierda noted.

The millenium development goals (MDGs) are set by the United Nations and involves eight targets that all 192 UN member-states and at least 23 international organizations have agreed to achieve by 2015.

Aside from eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, the MDGs include achieving universal primary education; promoting gender equality and empowerment of women; reducing child mortality rate; improving maternal health, combating HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases; ensuring environmental sustainability; and developing global partnership for development.

Since Aquino took office on June 30, 2010, the 4Ps has been reformed and expanded, according to Lacierda.
“From less than a million beneficiaries before we entered office, we are now on track to cover 3.1 million by the end of this year,” Lacierda said. –Fernan J. Angeles, Daily Tribune