Feb 17-23,2011
16,115 additional CCT beneficiaries targeted for 2011
More than P74 million in cash was recently released to the 7,466 beneficiaries in the government’s Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) program, otherwise known as the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), throughout Davao del Norte, bared provincial social welfare and development officer Arlyn Semblante.
As the CCT beneficiaries have been withdrawing their CCT money, an additional of 16,115 beneficiaries were recently recommended by Semblante for inclusion to the program to Social Welfare Secretary Dinky Solaiman.
Semblante said that if the national DSWD would approve her recommendation Davao del Norte would top as having the most number of CCT beneficiaries throughout Davao Region.
In an interview with the Valley & City Chronicle, Semblante said the recent release is for the year 2010 and was a lumped sum given to the beneficiaries through their issued ATM cash cards or through the over-the- counter mode of payment by the Landbank in coodination with the DSWD and LGU.
The beneficiaries, she added, are from all cities and towns in the province except Tagum City and San Isidro.
Tagum City has no CCT beneficiaries as it has the lowest poverty incidence of about 14 percent only, while San Isidro had none also because it was not yet created as a separate municipality when the National Household Targetting was first conducted by the national government. The statistics from the survey was used in the identification of the CCT beneficiaries.
“There’s people empowerment in here,” she noted when she saw thousands of the natives of Talaingod coming in droves to get cash through the one ATM machine of the Landbank located at the Kadiwa employees’ canteen in the Capitol.
There is no ATM machine in Talaingod, a remote village of mostly indigenous people.
“We’re assisting them how to use the cash card so they can withdraw their money,” Semblante said.
As to the report that undetermined number of beneficiaries were misspending their CCT money, she said that while they have no capability to individually monitor expenditures of the thousands of CCT beneficiaries, they would be relying from complaints and grievances that the municipal and provincial advisory commitees would receive as to the problems encountered in the program implementation including the misspending.
“We still have to validate these reported cases of misspending, and media can help on this,” she said.
Asked on what if the money is spent by the poor Talaingod natives for their rice and viand, she said she is not finding it a violation as long as beneficiaries would not forget complying the CCT conditionalities.
The CCT had actually started in 2009 in the province with a soft start at Talaingod only with 2,936 beneficiaries. For 2010 the town has only 1,900 beneficiaries, still the highest throughout the province that year.
Semblante does not see the CCT program as a doleout, saying “there are just conditions to be followed.”
CCT program imposes conditions to beneficiaries such as the need of the schooling children to have 85 percent of attendance in the school year or not to drop out from school, for parents to have their children immunized, checked up in the health center, or for them to attend in nutrition activities, purok and barangay assemblies and undertakings, and others. Failure of the beneficiaries to do these, as certified by the school principal, barangay health worker or barangay officials, would mean their disqualification from the program.
“The CCT has the mechanism to help the poor. The government invests for social assistance and development to attain the goal of eliminating this intergenerational poverty that has long been with them,” the social welfare provincial chief said. (cha monforte)
Filed under: provincial social welfare and development officer Arlyn Semblante., provincial social welfare and development officer Arlyn Semblante.
Recent Comments