Cash transfer program gaps must be addressed before budget hike

MANILA -- Congressional allies of President Benigno Aquino III assured the public that the P39-billion budget for the expansion of the conditional cash transfer (CCT) for poor households this year will go under strict scrutiny.

Senator Franklin Drilon and Cavite Representative Joseph Emilio Abaya will soon get a briefing from the program’s lead agency Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to check the developments in the implementation.

Specifically, Drilon said they wanted to get updates on the cleaning up of the list of beneficiaries to ensure that those in the list are only the poorest families.

Also, Drilon said he will find out from the DSWD and the Department of Budget and Management how much fund the government will continue to provide in the coming years to ensure the program's successful implementation.

Both Drilon and Abaya chair the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee on Public Expenditures, which is created to review and evaluate expenditure programs of all government agencies and assess effectiveness and impact of government activities, programs and projects.

The CCT was allocated P39 billion this year from P21 billion in 2011 to provide assistance to three million household beneficiaries in exchange of improving the health, nutrition and education particularly of children aged 0 to 14.

Next year, the project will get P44 billion under the proposed P2.006-trillion budget. (Virgil Lopez/Sunnex)