Ex-DSWD head to cash transfer critics: Study program before opposing it



Former Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Esperanza Cabral urged critics of the conditional cash transfer (CCT) program to know its ins and outs before opposing it. .

"It is difficult to implement but it doesn't seem like that to the people who criticize it," Cabral said in a forum sponsored by the University of the Philippines School of Economics.

 "Without knowing the ins and outs of the program, people have ready criticisms on it," she added. During the forum, DSWD secretary Dinky Soliman assured the public that there was no politics involved in the selection of the beneficiaries. Soliman said the DSWD employed a rigorous process to identify the families. 

She added they are now entering into an agreement with different people's organizations to help the DSWD monitor the implementation of the program and the compliance of the beneficiaries. A household beneficiary with three children, aged 0 to 14 years, receives a subsidy of P1,400 a month or P15,000 annually as long as they comply with the conditions set by the DSWD.

 The family receives quarterly cash grants through Land Bank branches in their area for five years. 

The beneficiaries were chosen based on the survey on poor families conducted by the National Statistical Coordination Board. Meanwhile, Cabral challenged the proponents of the CCT to conduct a massive information campaign for it. 

She said the implementors of CCT should inform the public and address criticisms against the CCT program. "They (DSWD) should ensure that people who give criticisms are responded right away. We don't want them spreading wrong impressions about the program," Cabral said.

 One of the biggest critics of the present CCT program is former President and incumbent Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. The CCT program started during Arroyo's tenure. Arroyo is questioning the capability of the DSWD to implement the P21 billion program under the Aquino administration.

 However, Cabral said the lack of school and health facilities is not the problem of the DSWD alone but of the whole government.

 As of November 10, some 826,937 poor households have been covered in the program. The DSWD hopes to reach one million poor households by the end of the year and 2.3 million by the end of 2011.

 – VVP, GMANews.TV