Govt cash grants make an impact on struggling families

LICAB, Nueva Ecija — Scarlet Taguinod, 41, wakes up at 4 in the morning everyday to prepare food for her family and wash their dirty clothes. She needs to finish cooking, other household chores and prepare her kids to school by 6am. By that time she has to go to her neighbor who supplies her with the cooked meals she peddles in their barangay. She earns just one peso for every packed meal she gets to sell. She usually takes home P100 after hours of peddling. Scarlet uses the money to augment the P250 not-so-regular salary of her husband Raymond, who is a seasonal driver-mechanic of palay thresher machines. During harvest time, she also helps as a tagapagpag, someone who collects and sells stray bits of palay. She admits that her and her husband's earnings, even when combined, are not enough to cover their everyday needs, especially the schooling and health needs of their four children, ages five to 10. This is the reason why Scarlet was so happy when her family was chosen as one of the 1,693 household beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, a conditional cash transfer (CCT) scheme.

CCT beneficiary Scarlet Taguinod and three of her four children. Amita Legaspi

The P4,200 her family receives per quarter, or P1,400 a month, for being a CCT beneficiary is already a big boost to meeting her children’s education, health and nutrition needs. Scarlet enrolled three of her four children in the program, following the maximum number of children allowed per household by the CCT. “Noon, lagi naming iniintindi yung pang-eskwela ng mga bata, yung pang project nila. Ngayon, hindi na masyado. Me pang-uniform na rin sila at gamit," she told reporters, social workers and government representatives who visited Friday their house in the province. (Before, we used to always worry about the kids' school requirements. Now, not so much. We can now afford their uniforms and school supplies.) Scarlet’s family lives in a shack adjacent to their parents' house. Her family gets water from a nearby hand pump and siphons electricity from their parents’ house so that her children can watch their favorite programs on a hand-me-down television set. Her family received their very first cash grant in September 2008. The beneficiaries were chosen based on a survey of the poorest families conducted by the National Statistical Coordination Board. As of November 10, 2010, the program has covered some 826,937 poor households nationwide. The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) hopes to reach one million poor households by the end of this year and 2.3 million by the end of 2011. CCT beneficiary families like Scarlet's are required to:

• bring their children ages 0-5 to the health center to receive regular preventive health check ups and vaccines,
• bring their children ages 3-5 to day care or pre school classes at least 85 percent of the time,
• enroll their children ages 6-14 in elementary or high school and ensure they attend classes 85 percent of the time,
• bring their children ages 6-14 to the health center to receive deworming pills twice a year,
• attend the monthly family development sessions.

Households with pregnant women must also avail of pre- and postnatal care, and a trained health professional must attend to their childbirth. Failure to comply with these conditions three times will result in suspension of cash grants or being dropped from the program. To facilitate monitoring, the beneficiaries were given Family Booklets where their progress and compliance with the conditions can be recorded. Scarlet has no problem complying with the conditions in order to fulfill her responsibility of bringing her children to school and giving them the health services they need. So at 10 am weekdays after selling packed meals, she will accompany her youngest daughter to the day care center, return to the house around noon to take care of her other children, and return to the day care center by 1pm to fetch her daughter. How was she able to do all the chores? "Time management lang naman po yan, natutunan ko po sa FDS [Time management only, something I learned at CCT family development sessions]," Scarlet said. Other topics discussed at Family Development Sessions are women's and children's rights; maternal and child care; early childhood disorder; gender development; self-awareness and community participation; leadership; parent effectiveness service; environmental sanitation; stress management; and behavioral management. Told that the cash grants will stop after five years, Scarlet said, "Patuloy po kaming magsusumikap para lahat silang mga anak ko ay makapagtapos sa pag-aaral [We will still strive to get all of my kids finish school]." By the light of a street lamp Poverty is no obstacle for 15-year old John Christian Viloria, a CCT beneficiary student, who dreams of becoming a civil engineer one day. In spite of being constrained to read under a street lamp at night, Viloria was able to graduate valedictorian in his class at the Villarosa Elementary School . "Tinatyaga ko lang po talaga [I just worked hard at it]," said Viloria, now a sophomore student at Exequiel Arlina High School. At present, he ranks fourth in his class. He said the cash grants given to their family help him and his three siblings to continue their education. His siblings are also honor students in their school. He added that his parents, both seasonal farm workers, now have spare money to buy gas for their gasera or gas lamp. "Ngayon po mas mabilis na kami makapag-aral dahil may gasera na, mas madali na po kami nakakapag-aral [Studying is easier now that we have a gas lamp]," he said. Next year, Viloria will no longer be eligible for the cash grant but he vowed to achieve his dream nonetheless. "Pagbubutihin ko po lalo ang pag-aaral ko [I'll study even harder then]," he said. Viloria’s mother, Joy, said being a CCT beneficiary opened up a whole new world for their family. "Nabigyan po kami ng pag-asa, na kaming mahihirap na pamilya ay kayang umunlad sa buhay [It gives poor families like ours the hope of improving our lot in life]," she said. Viloria’s determination and perseverance caught the attention of Licab Mayor Willy Domingo, who upon learning of the student’s plight, decided to give him a scholarship. Local government units pitch in Aside from providing scholarships, the municipal government, as part of its share in the CCT program, is setting up the Licab Development Foundation (LDF) which will be the ‘pansalo’ (safety net) for the CCT beneficiaries. "After five years dapat nakagayak na ang local government unit (LGU) sa withdrawal of support. Sa LDF magkakaroon ng livelihood training para magkaroon ng sariling pagkakakitaan ang mga tao [After five years, LGUs should be for the national government’s withdrawal of support. The LDF will provide livelihood training to those people]," Domingo told members of the media, Congress representatives and social workers who visited their municipality. He said they are also constructing a commissary or cooperative where the CCT beneficiaries and other indigent families could buy items at lower prices. "Dapat ay may kakayahan na ang mga pamilyang ito na tulungan ang kanilang sarili at makapaghanapbuhay. Doon pumapasok ang tulong ng lokal na pamahalaan [These families should be able to help themselves earn a living. That's where help from the local government comes in]," he said. He explained that, after five years, beneficiaries should be better off and be able to make a difference in their own lives. The Licab municipal government also set up their rural health unit to address the health needs of the people, most especially the CCT beneficiaries. In these clinics, community health workers monitor the health of the children. Vitamins are also distributed to malnourished children. Licab is a fourth-class municipality in the province of Nueva Ecija. It is one of the four pilot areas in 2008. As of June 2010, some P16.5 million in cash grants have been released to the province. - TJD/MRT/JV, GMANews.TV