Aquino’s social welfare programme ineffective, critics say

Manila: President Benigno Aquino’s programme to push poor people to send their children to school and enrol them in health clinics has been ineffective, say critics, even as the Word Bank called the programme a success story and suggested better ways to perfect it.

Critics say the programme has been a source of corruption and enhances patronage politics for the ruling party during elections.

“The department of social welfare’s Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) programme which allots P800 ($17.77 or Dh66.66) per poor child every month has failed in its goal to alleviate poverty because the country’s poverty level and peoples’ self-assessed poverty have not changed since the programme was established in 2008,” Congressman Terry Ridon of Youth, a sectoral party at the House of Representatives, told Gulf News..

He cited Ibon Foundation’s survey in May 2015 which said seven out of 10 respondents or 67 per cent rated themselves as poor. In comparison, self-assessed poverty incidence rose to 25.8 per cent in June 2014, higher than 24.6 per cent in the same period in 2013.

Sixty-six million out of 100 million Filipinos live on P125 a day. About 2.5 million Filipinos have been living on P58 a day since 2010, according to Ibon.

“Congress has allowed (allotment for) CCT funds to grow exponentially despite the fact it is a palliative solution to poverty. It adds to our mounting debt burden,” complained Ridon.

In 2008, former president Gloria Arroyo, now a congresswoman, started CCT with an initial budget of P298.5 million.

In 2010, Aquino continued the CCT programme with a higher budget. In 2010, the government borrowed P18 billion for CCT from the Asian Development Bank; P18.22 billion from the World Bank; and additional P4.5 billion ($100 million or Dh375 million) from WB for the same purpose.

The social welfare department’s proposed a P103.7 billion for 2016 (Dh8.641 billion) budget 2016 includes P62.6 billion for CCT.

“Because of this, the CCT should be called Campaign Cash Transfer — its fund will surely go to the campaign coffers of the ruling Liberal Party,” said Gabriela, a sectoral party at the House of Representatives.

Without citing other figures, Ridon said the government has allocated over P245 billion for CCT for the past seven years.

Noting that corruption has made an inroad on CCT, Ridon said, “Its implementation is riddled with issues and controversies that point to corruption. ”Beneficiaries in Metro Manila told Gulf News they receive their monthly allocation every two months, equivalent to 50 per cent deduction. Beneficiaries in the provinces get their monthly allocation every three months.

In a 2013 report, the Commission on Audit said village officials, government employees, and families with spouses and children working overseas have become beneficiaries of CCT funds.

The social welfare department has also saved allocated CCT funds, COA said, adding the department allotted P57.6 billion for CCT grants, but released only P38.4 billion to CCT grantees as of December 2014.

“CCT should be abolished,” said several groups that are now looking into sources of corruption in government spending.

Remaining bullish on his CCT programme, President Aquino said it has improved the attendance of poor children in state schools, and boosted their health care and nutrition.

Suggesting solutions to reported corruption in CCT’s implementation, Axel von Trotsenburg, World Bank Vice President for East Asia and the Pacific said the social welfare department should “make cash payments” to CCT beneficiaries and implement a “rigorous selection of recipients”.

Trotsenburg commended CCT as a success story in a depressed area in Borbon town, Cebu central Philippines which he visited before attending the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting of finance ministers in central Philippines.