PNoy expects 3M CCT beneficiaries by 2012

President Benigno Aquino III on Monday promised that around three million Filipinos will have benefited from the administration's conditional cash transfer (CCT) program by the end of 2012. "Inaasam po natin na bago matapos ang 2012, tatlong milyong pamilya na ang mabibigyan ng puhunan para sa kanilang kinabukasan (I hope that by the end of 2012, three million families will have been given funding for their future)," he said during his second State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Monday. The CCT grants monthly stipend of up to P1,400 to 2.3 million of the 4.6 million poorest families nationwide. It is part of the DSWD's Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps). Of the two million families registered under the 4Ps, 1.6 million have benefited from the program, Aquino said, making him confident that government can service 2.3 million families by the end of 2011. With the program's 92-percent compliance rate, millions of Filipino mothers will have undergone regular checkups while millions of children will have gone to school, according to the President. "Simula pa lang po ito, at sa ganitong kalinaw na mga resulta, umaasa ako sa suporta ng bawat Pilipino, lalo na ng lehislatura, sa mungkahi nating salinan pa ng pondo ang Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program. (With these results, I am hoping for the support of every Filipino, especially the legislature, in our recommendation to give more funds to the 4Ps," he said. — VS, GMA News