PRESIDENT Benigno Aquino 3rd has likened his administration’s flagship anti-poverty weapon—the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) program—as a “lifesaver being thrown to drowning” 25 million impoverished Filipinos.
In a keynote speech before the 14 members of the National Sectoral Assembly at the
Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City (Metro Manila), President Aquino told the 1,300 attendees that his administration is playing a crucial role in ensuring successful implementation of the CCT program.
The President said that the program has benefited 2.223 million families.
By year-end, some 3 million families are expected to be enrolled in the program, a major move that will greatly reduce the number of poor families, which stood at 5.2 million based on 2009 statistics.
To further decrease the number of the poorest of the poor families, Mr. Aquino said that his administration is looking forward to the approval of a proposed P39-billion budget for next year’s CCT program.
In 2010, Congress allotted P10 billion for the program.
The budget was more than doubled this year to P21 billion.
The President said that there are 5.2 million families covered by PhilHealth, all for free.
“I believe that this National Sectoral Assembly [NSA] is a major crusade to minimize hunger and poverty in this country,” he noted.
Under the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC), several sectors are being tapped to monitor implementation of the CCT program, including reporting of irregularities
These basic sectors, excluding the cooperatives sector, are artisans, fishemen, farmers, indigenous peoples, non-government organizations, persons with disabilities, senior citizens, urban poor, victims of disasters, women, formal labor and migrant workers, workers in the informal sector and youth and students.
The NAPC, the lead convenor of the NSA, underscored the importance of this partnership, saying that it was crucial in the crafting of effective anti-poverty strategies that would be beneficial to all.
The anti-poverty commission acts as the “coordinating and advisory body” that exercises oversight functions in implementing the social reform agenda of the government, which is key to the government’s drive for poverty alleviation.
The NAPC, which was created under Republic Act 8425 or the Social Reform and Poverty Alleviation Act, is headed by President Aquino.
The Philippines is the only country in Asia where the absolute number of the poor increased from 1990-2005—from 19.8 million (3.2 million families) in 2003 to 23.1 million (3.9 million families) in 2009.
