“The flaw is not with the implementation of the Conditional Cash Transfer program, it is with the very principle of the program, which is to give dole-outs to the poorest instead of addressing the causes of poverty.”
This was the statement of labor center Kilusang Mayo Uno in response to statements made by Budget Secretary Florencio in defense of the widely-criticized Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) program of the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
Abad admitted that the implementation of the CCT Program has flaws, but asserted that the Aquino government’s poverty reduction scheme is effective overall.
“There is no way the CCT program can reduce poverty. It may appear to be cushioning the impact of poverty on the poorest, but in the long view, it is actually causing greater poverty in keeping the causes of poverty unaddressed,” said Lito Ustarez, KMU vice-chairperson.
“The Aquino government cannot even present facts proving that the CCT program is effective in reducing poverty, because there really is none. Flaws in the program’s implementation are being used as scapegoat to deflect attention from the highly-flawed principle behind this dole-out program,” he said.
“Noynoy even has the guts to brag about expanding the CCT’s coverage, when that only means that poverty in the country is still not being resolved. Expanding the CCT only becomes necessary for the government because of its failure to provide decent jobs with living wages and affordable social services to the country’s poor,” he added.
KMU criticized the huge budget being channeled to the CCT program. More than P21 billion was allotted for its implementation this year and P16 billion is being proposed as an addition for the next year.
“This budget increase may be good news for those implementing the CCT program, but it certainly is bad news for the Filipino workers and people as it means the persistence, even worsening, of poverty in the country. More CCT band-aids for the cancer that is poverty, hunger and unemployment is certainly not good news,” Ustarez said.
“The Aquino government is increasing the CCT budget while cutting budget of other social services, especially tertiary education. That means the government is merely giving poor people little money to avail of costlier services that are being provided by private entities,” he added. Lito Ustarez, KMU Vice Chairperson
