Equity

MANILA, Philippines – The government plans to expand a landmark poverty alleviation scheme that provides cash aid to the country’s poorest households to benefit nearly 5 million families, an official said Tuesday.

THE GOVERNMENT plans to expand a landmark poverty alleviation scheme that provides cash aid to the country’s poorest households to benefit nearly five million families, a Cabinet official said.

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has partnered with five private firms for the implementation of sustainable livelihood programs for the beneficiaries of the government’s conditional cash transfer program.

After more than a century of legal disputes since the US government tried resolving the friar lands question in the Philippines, the vast estates owned by Spanish Catholic monastic orders remain a labyrinthian issue among local courts and the much-assailed irregularities in the bureaucracy and the justice system had further made life difficult for those…

MANILA, Philippines – Malacañang conceded yesterday it would take time for any economic gains to trickle down the poor but stressed stop gap measures like the conditional cash transfer program and transport subsidy had been put in place to ensure the public could cope with higher prices of commodities and fuel.

A PARTY-LIST lawmaker has urged the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) to reconsider its earlier proposal to scrap the “study now, pay later” program despite its low repayment rate, it was learned on Monday.

Last December 28, 2011, STAR’s Paolo Romero reported that UP (University of the Philippines) Assistant Professor Marivic Raquiza had questioned the prioritization and budget allocation that the DSWD (Department of Social Welfare and Development) has placed on the CCT (Conditional Cash Transfer) program, to the alleged detriment of the department’s other programs.

THE Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) had delisted 165,651 non-compliant, undeserving and unqualified beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino program, the Philippines’ conditional cash transfer (CCT) program, as of December 15 last year.

IT is not fair for the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to overpay beneficiaries of its Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) program because of the unsystematic database of the poor recipient families it has kept for the program, the Commission on Audit (COA) said.

The Bureau of Internal Revenue has increased its collection target for taxes on self-employed individuals for next year amid improved compliance so far this year. For next year, the bureau is eyeing to raise P222.28 billion from professionals, 15 percent higher than this year’s projected collection of P192.72 billion.

MANILA, Philippines – The aggregate profits of companies listed on the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) fell 10 percent in the nine months ending September this year to P308.86 billion, data from the PSE showed. Consolidated revenues, however, rose 15.4 percent to P2.78 trillion from P2.41 trillion, driven by improved performances in the financial, property and…

COA CONFIRMS CCT HOLES. . . The Commission on Audit (COA) found several discrepancies and holes in the President Aquino flagship Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) program. It discovered:

DAVAO CITY—The reported loopholes in the distribution of  the government’s conditional cash transfer (CCT) program uncovered recently by the Commission on Audit (COA) happened in 2010 and have already been addressed, Social Welfare Secretary Corazon “Dinky” Soliman said.

MANILA, Philippines – The government is close to achieving its target number of beneficiaries of the conditional cash transfer program.

THE GAP between the highest and lowest wages within the same occupation group was widest among professionals and narrowest among service workers last year, the Bureau of Labor and Employment Statistics (BLES) reported.

A LAWMAKER allied with President Benigno Aquino III has urged the Palace to dump the P39.8-billion conditional cash transfer program, saying the increase in poverty and hunger only proved that the dole to the poor was a failure.

People are our only remaining source of competitive advantage; most of our other resources are gone or are fast going but what we do have in large quantities are people. It stands to reason, therefore, that we should be spending more in terms of investments in human capital. I know I have written about this…

Metro Manila’s share of the country’s total financial wealth widened further this year, as the political and financial hub continued to experience faster growth than the rest of the economy.

There is an adage that if you want to help the poor you do not give them fish but teach them how to fish. Suddenly this adage has been turned upside down by a new approach to how to alleviate poverty. You give them cash.

MANILA, Philippines – Earnings of banks operating in the Philippines surged 28 percent to P51.9 billion from January to June this year from P40.6 billion in the same period last year, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported yesterday.

THE rising incidence of hunger in the Philippines reported recently by the Social Weather Stations has put the spotlight on the wisdom of the Aquino administration’s cash handouts to the poor—and whether the dole is helping to pull Filipinos out of poverty.

Arguing the case for support to his Party-list’s constituency, Ang Kasangga Rep. Teodorico Haresco said that financial assistance should also be provided for the moderate poor, which according to the World Bank definition, are those living on $2 to $5 per day.

Government should harness the millions of indigent families under the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) in national environmental programs starting at the barangay level to cope with the growing threat of climate change.

The Aquino government should consider reducing the budget of the Department of Social Welfare’s Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) program and channel its funds to the Philippine Health Corp. (PhilHealth) where it could be used to provide free medical and surgical procedures to its members.

BANKING has never been better, stronger, more stable, more resilient and more profitable in the Philippines than now This comes as a surprise considering the euro and sovereign debt crisis in Europe; the unemployment, double-dip recession tendency and fiscal crisis in the United States; and the perceptible global economic slowdown this year and next.

More lawmakers want to grant incentives to car makers who build or import cars that are powered by electric or hybrid engines or those that run on alternative fuel in a move to reduce the country’s dependence on fossil fuel.

THE combined net earnings of the listed firms declined by 7 percent to P219.66 billion in the year through June from P236.23 billion the year before as a result of costlier inputs, the Philippine Stock Exchange reported Thursday.

Net earnings of listed companies declined in the first half reflecting a slowdown in the spending power of consumers due to increased prices, the head of the local bourse said.

SENATORS UNCONVINCED ON EFFICIENCY, IMPLEMENTATION OF DOLEOUTS President Aquino’s P39-billion budget allocation for his conditional cash transfer (CCT) program that is being handled by social services secretary Corazon “Dinky” Soliman may have been quickly passed by the House of Representatives without as much as a question or a budget slash, but the same budget allocation…

CLARK FREEPORT, Pampanga ,Philippines — Budget Secretary Florencio Abad reported here yesterday that the Aquino administration would invest P70 billion in the conditional cash transfer (CCT) program until 2015.