Ex-Pres. Arroyo faces former friend at DSWD budget hearing

Former President and incumbent Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Tuesday scrutinized the P34 billion agency budget of her former ally and friend, Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Corazon "Dinky" Soliman, who had left the Arroyo administration in a dramatic fashion. Soliman was the DSWD secretary in the Arroyo government from 2001 until she left the Cabinet in 2005, during the height of the "Hello Garci" controversy. Soliman was among eight Cabinet members who tendered their irrevocable resignations and called on Arroyo to follow suit. At the hearing, however, there was no mention of the past, except during the discussion about the DSWD's centerpiece program, the conditional cash transfer, or CCT, which was started under the Arroyo administration. Aquino admin 'ill-prepared' On Tuesday, Arroyo said the Aquino government is ill-prepared to fully implement program, and questioned the P21 billion appropriation for the CCT. She expressed doubt that the present administration can achieve its target of reaching 2.3 million poor families, more than half of the beneficiaries during her time. Arroyo was supposed to be the 13th interpellator but her colleagues gave way and allowed her to be the fifth to ask questions. Arroyo's interpellation On Tuesday, Arroyo started her interpellation with a statement that she was "very grateful and appreciative that the current administration found it (CCT) successful enough to continue and expand." "Let me say at the outset that I believe in the conditional cash transfer and why not, it was my administration that introduced this program," she said. However, she raised questions about the cost of the expansion the Aquino administration. "It is essential that if we are to increase the CCT program funding by such amount, its commensurate support facilities should be available, as well as as the organizational absorptive capacity. Therefore we know where the funds will go," Arroyo said. She believed the CCT program of her successor is "ambitious and untimely". The former President said it took her administration three years to cover a million households because a many things had to be prepared first. The Arroyo administration started planning the program in 2007. "There were a lot of preparations needed. We have to prepare the absorptive capacity of the agency itself. We have to prepare the allied services in health and education whose demand would increase because of the conditions of the conditional cash transfer," Arroyo said. "Now we have a program that's very good, that should be expanded but the question is by how much?" he asked. Not possible to implement in one year She believed the government cannot achieve its goal of implementing the CCT program in one year. Arroyo said the hiring and training of the persons for the project would already take a year to complete. The government intends to hire for the project at least 1,000 "highly competent, computer literate college graduates." She added there are not enough classrooms to accommodate the school-aged children who need to enroll as one of the conditions in the CCT. The birthing units are also insufficient to address the needs of pregnant mothers. She said these two problems should be resolved for the country to achieve two of the eight Millennium Development Goals by 2015: universal primary education and maternal deaths. "It would take time to comply with the conditions. It would take time to build classrooms and birthing units," she said. Scrutinizing the budget A former economics professor, Arroyo repeatedly asked for a breakdown of figures. "When you talk about billions of pesos it should have come from some summation of something. I'm asking for the breakdown of such a large amount," she told Camiguin Rep. Juan Carlo Rahman Nava, the House appropriations subcommittee chairman tasked to defend the DSWD budget. During the interpellation, Arroyo learned that only P17 billion will be given directly to the beneficiaries as the remaining amount will be used for administrative operations. She believed "there are several lump sums tucked in the budget" because no details were provided on how the P21 billion CCT fund will be divided. She noted the P12 billion appropriation for classrooms. She claimed there were no descriptions on how the fund would be used. Arroyo also questioned the source of the funds, saying the P36 billion loan from the World Bank and Asian Development Bank means a fund of only P7.5 billion per year. "Where will the P14 billion (to complete the P21 billion) come from? Is that the reason there is a reduction in farm to market roads and state universities and colleges, there is a small allocation for the Visayas and Mindanao and the budget for the judiciary was decreased," she said. Instead of funding the CCT heavily, Arroyo said the government should realign the budget for classrooms and birthing units. She also cited the need for funds in Mindanao "where there is so much poverty." "It would be irresponsible to allocate a budget for the program that is not yet fully prepared," she said. "The details may look very nice on paper but, I've been there, the implementation is certainly not that simple," Mrs. Arroyo added. No verbal fisticuffs While the hearing focused on a major government program, reporters were just as interested in the encounter between Arroyo and Soliman, the first since the latter took over the DSWD in July. But no verbal fisticuffs between the two occurred. Only Nava was allowed to answer the questions of Arroyo and the other legislators. Thus, Soliman and other DSWD officials, who were seated behind Nava, only supplied him with the details. In 2001, Arroyo had invited the equally diminutive Soliman to join her fledgling administration after the former NGO stalwart led anti-Estrada protests that led to his downfall and Arroyo's rise. When she was vice president under Estrada, Arroyo was concurrently also DSWD secretary. Arroyo was wearing a cream-colored dress suit while Soliman was wearing a khaki-colored suit and sported her signature red dyed streak in her hair. Before the interpellation, reporters asked Soliman how she felt about Arroyo scrutinizing her agency's budget. "This program (conditional cash transfer) she knows very well because she started it," the DSWD secretary said. In an interview after the hearing, Soliman admitted to reporters that "to some extent" she felt she was back in a Cabinet meeting with Arroyo, who was considered a micro-manager. "I think it's clear where she is coming from and why she is doing that. As I said, my ego is smaller than the problem. Let's move on, let's get to the 2.4 million families who need the help," she said. Before the mass resignation at the Hyatt Hotel, Soliman was seen as one of those singing "If We Hold On Together" to Arroyo as a sign of support. On Tuesday, Soliman said she just ignores the motives of those who were questioning her and the government's program. "I just want to be focused on poverty reduction. Whatever the motivation, it's her right as a congressperson. Let the people judge by the actions and the questions what it was all about," she said. "Kung ito yung kinakailangan para ako ay makakuha ng pera para matulungan and pinakamahihirap nating pamilya at makaabot ng 2.3 million na household handa kaming daanan yun. Mismong si dating Pangulong Arroyo alam kung ano ang track record ng DSWD. Yan ang tutok ko, kung ano man ang intensyon o motibasyon ng ibang kongresista kanila na lang iyon," she added. (If this is needed to obtain the fund to help the country's poorest families and reach 2.3 million households, we are ready to go through it [interpellation]. Former President Arroyo herself knows the track record of the DSWD. That's my focus, whatever may be the intention or motivation of some lawmakers, that's up to them.) She insisted that CCT is no dole-out but an investment to break the inter-generational poverty as it has certain conditions. She added that they have a compliance verification system and beneficiaries who will not follow the conditions will be suspended or de-listed. The session was suspended at least four times to give the DSWD and Camiguin Rep.Nava enough time to answer Arroyo's questions. The hearing started past 8:00 pm and was adjourned around 12 in the morning. The DSWD will return on Wednesday morning as more than 20 lawmakers have registered their intention to ask the agency questions. –VVP/HS, GMANews.TV