Palace allays fears over ‘fake’ beneficiaries of cash program

Malacañang on Saturday allayed fears of some lawmakers that ghost families may be exploiting government’s controversial P21-billion conditional cash transfer program, saying it is already weeding out bogus beneficiaries. Deputy presidential spokeswoman Abigail Valte said the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is already going over the list of the program's beneficiaries. “We have a list and we are going over it, to make sure only qualified families avail of the program. If I recall, there was a number of names taken off the list because they did not meet the criteria for the program," she said on government-run dzRB radio. She also stressed criticisms about the CCT program have not shaken Palace’s confidence in DSWD Secretary Corazon Soliman, who has also been linked to the multibillion-peso PEACe [Poverty Eradication and Alleviation Certificate] bonds issue. Valte said Malacañang remains confident Soliman is “able and capable of implementing the program of CCTP." “We have seen Soliman work despite the criticisms against her. We are confident she remains professional and she knows the criticisms are part of the job. She will work despite the criticisms against her," she said. Some lawmakers had questioned the DSWD’s capability to implement the program in the light of reports that the list of its supposed beneficiaries is filled with “ghost families." Party-list Gabriela Rep. Luzviminda Ilagan and Negros Occidental Rep. Alfredo Benitez pointed out that the program, which was initiated during the time of former President Gloria Arroyo, may not get the desired results under Soliman, amid questions about her involvement in the PEACe bonds scam. Soliman was a former ranking official of the Caucus of Development NGO Networks (CODE NGO), a consortium of non-government organizations that allegedly stands to benefit from the bonds when they mature next year. The lawmakers insisted that the CCTP list would contain phantom beneficiaries, and even more than those in the "questioned" list under Gloria Arroyo administration. Ilagan said that the CCT is prone to corruption while Benitez said the program under the previous administration purportedly gave cash benefits even to bogus beneficiaries. — LBG, GMANews.TV