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Palace: Clinton backs govt's conditional cash transfers


Former U.S. president Bill Clinton expressed support for the Philippine government's conditional cash transfer (CCT) program during his one-hour meeting with President Benigno Aquino III in Malacañang on Wednesday, a Palace official said. Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning head Ricky Carandang said Aquino explained to Clinton that the CCT program is the administration's short-term strategy in combating poverty in the country, while investing more in education and health care is the long-term solution. "He (Clinton) fully supports the conditional cash transfer program of the Aquino administration as a means of reducing poverty,“ Carandang said in an interview with reporters after the Aquino-Clinton meeting. Clinton, who was US president from 1993 to 2001, founded the Clinton Global Initiative in 2005, which "convenes global leaders to devise and implement innovative solutions to some of the world's most pressing challenges." He is in Manila to deliver a lecture titled "Embracing Our Common Humanity" at the Manila Hotel also on Wednesday. CCT as budget's centerpiece The Aquino administration's proposed P21-billion budget for the CCT program, which was begun by former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo but was expanded by the current government, has been the subject of debate in Congress. Some lawmakers questioned the P21-billion allocation for next year, which is nearly twice as large as the P12-billion budget for the program for 2010, and said that the funds should be realigned to education, health, and other social services. While the House of Representatives passed the proposed P1.645-trillion budget with the CCT allocation intact, senators are poised to go tougher on the program. Carandang said the Palace hopes Congress would take into consideration Clinton's support for the CCT program, noting that other countries like Brazil had also implemented similar programs. "It’s the centerpiece of the budget and the Aquino administration’s programs. Alam naman natin na [After all, we know that] he was elected on two promises: to reduce corruption and to reduce poverty, so we’re hoping Congress will support these programs," Carandang said. Aside from anti-poverty programs, Carandang said Clinton and Aquino also discussed the Philippines' plans for rice self-sufficiency and attempts to expand into more renewable energy such as geothermal energy. "Nag-alok si dating pangulong Clinton ng tulong [Former president Clinton offered help], if there’s anything the Clinton Global Initiative can do or the former president can do to help us achieve rice self sufficiency," he said. “Sabi niya willing naman siyang tumulong [He said he was willing to help] in the form of giving us ideas or any other assistance that he can give us," Carandang added. "He’s not in office anymore and the efforts that [former] president Clinton might undertake would really be more in terms of perhaps getting us in touch with people who might help us and publicly supporting the programs of the administration," added the Palace official. Aquino took Clinton's offer to help "very positively," but the Philippine president did not ask for anything specific during the meeting, said Carandang. Casual meeting The meeting between Aquino and Clinton was supposed to have been a 30-minute courtesy call, but the meeting extended to more than an hour, from around 3:10 to 4:20, said Carandang. “It was a casual meeting, very informal and mukhang [it looked like] the two leaders hit it off. They were very friendly towards each other," he said. Also present during the meeting were Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima, Health Secretary Enrique Ona, Presidential Management Staff chief Julia Abad, and Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Erlinda Basilio. Carandang, who was not at the meeting, said that Clinton and Aquino likely neither tackled the US' travel advisory that warned its citizens of possible terror threats in the Philippines, nor the RP-US Visiting Forces Agreement, because Clinton was focused on learning about the Philippines' anti-poverty and energy programs.—JV, GMANews.TV

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