Dole program hit as unwise

The House opposition bloc on Saturday demanded a review of the government’s dole program, called conditional cash transfer (CCT), because it has been ineffective in uplifting the lives of the poorest of the poor.

Minority Leader and Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez said the Department of Social Welfare and Development, headed by Secretary Corazon Soliman, failed to study how to spend the CCT fund properly and this has resulted in inefficiency.

Suarez said the P1,400 monthly dole given to indigents should be spent on education and other productive livelihood activities that will teach the poor how to fish, but CCT beneficiaries more frequently use the dole to pay debts or, at worst, to buy alcohol, cigarettes and other vices.

“The sales of distilled spirits increased because some people turn their CCT into collateral so they could borrow money from the neighborhood stores,” Suarez told reporters, citing reports reaching his office on how CCT beneficiaries use the welfare money.

Worse, the money is spent on gambling, the House minority leader added.

He said the original purpose of the dole was to induce parents to make sure that their children are going to school and the program included health benefits.

Earlier, the minority bloc said that Secretary Soliman should be charged with malversation of public funds for diverting P10.5 million from the budget that the Congress alloted for the government’s CCT to a so-called “anti-epal campaign” against credit-grabbers.

Malacañang has already defended the department’s diversion of the funds with Deputy Presidential Spokeswoman Abigail Valte saying the government only wanted to protect the government’s dole program against politicians who want to grab credit for the program. –Maricel Cruz, Manila Standard Today