Poverty up but hunger down so CCT works, says Palace

The effectiveness of President Aquino’s costly and at the same time controversial conditional cash transfer (CCT) program was again in the limelight after a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey showed a marked increased in self-rated poverty, prompting the Palace to counter that the CCT is working since the hunger incidence in the same survey was shown to have been reduced.

Deputy presidential spokesman Abigail Valte, during a press briefing, said the Palace will look into the latest SWS survey showing that self-rated poverty went up to 54 percent during last quarter of 2012 from 47 percent during the previous quarter.

“We are going to look into those numbers actually because in the same survey, it cites that hunger incidence also went down. So, it is safe to assume that our experts will be looking at the numbers also just to see what is there –what the numbers reveal,” said Valte.

Valte also maintained that the Aquino administration’s anti-poverty CCT program remains effective despite the survey numbers.

“Yes,” replied Valte when asked if the CCT program remains effective, adding “we have been going around. We make it a point to talk to the beneficiaries in provinces that are not part of (Metro) Manila or in some other cities and the feedback is almost usually the same – that it (CCT) is a big help.”

She, however, admitted that there were reports saying some beneficiaries are using the grant in vices which is the reason of the continuing cleansing of the list of beneficiaries of CCT.
“These reports we would like to hear of them so that we could remove them (benficiaries) from the list because the cleansing of the list is ongoing and is a continuing effort,” said Valte.

There were apprehensions that the CCT fund could be used by the administration in boosting the candidacy of its bets in the upcoming May midterm elections.

Valte said there are many indicators by which to measure the success of the implementation of the CCT program.

“One is the attendance of children in public schools. I remember there was one public school in Dumaguete that we had gone to, and the question I asked the principal was about attendance (of students),” she said.

Valte also noted that before the families of the children were made part of the CCT program, around 85 percent were able to go to school, and when they became beneficiaries of the program, about 95 percent of the children are now attending classes.
“So that’s just one of the many indicators by which you can see and measure the success of the program. But the best (way), to me, is to talk to the families themselves,” she said.

Meanwhile, the Aquino administration yesterday expressed elation over the reported success of the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) in enhancing the services extended by Phil-Job Net in providing at least 100,000 job vacancies at any given time.

Valte said that the administration is looking forward to the continuing development of the Phil-Job Net website to be able to give assistance to the job seekers.

“We are pleased to share the report of Labor and Employment Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz to the President regarding Phil-Job Net (www.phil-job.net), the official job portal of the Philippine Government,” Valte said.

“For the first time in its history, the number of vacancies on the website has outpaced the number of applicants. As of today, there have been more than 264,000 vacancies posted by employers compared to a little over 117,000 applicants. The number of vacancies is also at an all-time high compared to only an average of 40,000 a month as of July 2010,” Valte said. –Mario J. Mallari, Daily Tribune