We should have paid heed years ago, but the idea of providing financial assistance to the poorest of the poor, if only to encourage them to send their children to school and avail themselves of community-based health care service, sounded too much of a noble cause to challenge.
So good, in fact, that the administration of former President Benigno Aquino III apparently forgot that the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program was supposed to be just a temporary measure until the bulk of the Filipino poor are finally able to sustain their own need through stable jobs.
The 4Ps, also called the conditional cash transfer program, has become the flagship anti-poverty measure of the Aquino administration even as the idea originally came from Mr. Aquino’s predecessor whom he had maligned so much.
Unfortunately, the CCT, allotted tens of billions of pesos in a year, became so heavily identified with the Aquino administration such that it was exploited during the last campaign season. Getting on the good side of voters in the impoverished regions of the country allowed Aquino’s Liberal Party to boost the stock of its candidates even as they started from near-zero recognition among the voters.
But the Commission on Audit recently found that there were recurring deficiencies in the program’s implementation, such that assistance to rightful beneficiaries was delayed while much-needed funds remained idle in banks. The CoA report said there were more than P6.3 billion in unliquidated funds for the dole program.
The new secretary of Social Welfare and Development, Judy Taguiwalo, has reason to be alarmed primarily because the amount involved is already equal to more than 10 percent of the department’s budget.
She said it is her priority to ensure that the value of the billions of pesos in public funds under the custody of the department is not eroded due to inefficiency or misuse. Taguiwalo has ordered a review of the financial system at the DSWD to know whether the implementation of the CCT and other programs is effective.
It was Taguiwalo who said she is not inclined to institutionalize the program precisely because of its temporary nature. “Pantawid,” after all, refers to a stopgap measure meant to tide one over until better times come along.
It is reassuring to hear the Social Welfare secretary affirming government’s role as custodian of public resources, utilizing these solely for the interest of the public. This is a reminder that previous officials of the DSWD—who took for granted the sheer amount of money at their disposal—appear to have forgotten.