ONLY two years in office, yet President Aquino’s government has been constantly making efforts to improve the lives of its constituents.
Amid upgraded credit ratings, huge investments and renewed business confidence from all over the world, the Aquino administration continues to expand movement towards poverty reduction as well.
The Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) program of the government, which aims to alleviate poverty by 2015, has earned the approval of the United Nations (UN). The scheme was expanded to uplift the lives of more poor Filipinos, through programs geared towards sound health and better education.
Being one of the many countries under the UN’s Millennium Development Goals, the Philippines is expected to fulfill the eight MDG’s in three years, which include: downsizing extreme poverty and hunger, women empowerment and gender equality, reduction of child mortality, achieving universal primary education, developing maternal health, combating HIV/AIDS and other diseases, development of a global partnership for development, and establishing a sustainable environment.
In a statement made on Oct. 28, Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda proudly informed the press that the CCT program (formerly called the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program or 4Ps) has been “reformed and expanded.”
Starting with less than a million beneficiaries, Lacierda noted that the CCT now aims to cover 3.1 million dependents by the end of this year and to raise the incomes of beneficiaries by 12.6 percent. For next year, the proposed national budget is slated at P45 billion.
Lacierda cited World Bank social protection specialist, Junko Onishi, who said “that evidence suggests that the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program [or the CCT] is on track, having impacts on the beneficiary households.”
“We maintain that the 4Ps is an investment in the best asset of the Philippines…It not only provides beneficiaries with resources but also creates, in the long term, a skilled and productive citizenry,” Lacierda said.
However, critics to the program have long questioned its intent and purpose, being unable to fully and directly address the causes of poverty.
Part of the CCT’s function is to give qualified beneficiaries cash allowances, which is funded through a loan from the Asian Development Bank — a provision which has been slammed by the program’s detractors, since it only provides temporary financial security.
Some lawmakers and social activist groups believe that poverty reduction can only be achieved through job creation and through the distribution of agricultural land.
While giving financial assistance to the less fortunate (which may be likened to welfare and food stamps in the US) provides for their needs, it is also necessary for the government to come up with programs that would motivate the poor to become productive citizens, and eventually learn to fend for themselves.
The old adage still applies: “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”
(AJPress)
