Senator Imee Marcos during one of the hearings in the Senate. File photo / JAM STA ROSA
MANILA, Philippines — A lawmaker has blamed Senator Imee Marcos again for the low budget on the country’s conditional cash transfer program, after the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) said that it is facing a P3.9-billion deficit for the educational aid of beneficiaries in 2023.
During the hearing of the House of Representatives’ committee on public accounts, 4Ps party-list Rep. Jonathan Clement Abalos said that the budget cuts initiated by Senator Marcos on the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) stops the DSWD from servicing beneficiaries.
Last February, House lawmakers claimed that Marcos moved to slash allegedly P13 billion from the DSWD budget in 2023, to realign it to other programs because the utilization rate for the 4Ps was only at 45 percent. Abalos however noted that the low utilization rate was because new beneficiaries were not accounted for yet.
READ: Imee Marcos’ budget realigning led to millions not receiving 4Ps — Bongalon
Senator Marcos confirmed this, but said that she only wanted to avoid unused funds under DSWD to be merely returned to the national treasury.
READ: Marcos refutes solon’s claims on budget realignment affecting 4Ps funds
“We have confirmed from the previous budget season that P8 billion was removed by the DSWD budget sponsor in the Senate, which is Senator Marcos. And it wasn’t fair because the utilization rate at that time, allegedly was at 45 percent but only half of the payment cycle was considered,” Abalos said on Monday.
“The big issue now is the availability of cash on hand. So how do we serve our beneficiaries who have not received their cash grants since last year, when it was reassessed?” he asked.
Abalos said this after DSWD representatives disclosed to the committee that they need P3.9 billion to cover the grants for 667,608 4Ps beneficiaries.
DSWD officials said that the projected deficit of P9.5 billion was based on estimates of P6.5 billion for educational grants and P3 billion for rice subsidies. The correct figures, DSWD said, is now at P3.9 billion for educational grants.
Last February, Abalos explained that there was supposed to be a Listahanan 3 for the 4Ps program, which is the process of identifying beneficiaries, in 2019. However, a reenacted budget in 2019 and the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 meant that the Listahanan 3 did not happen.
This meant that the DSWD distributed funds only to those included in Listahanan 1 and Listahanan 2 despite higher budgets in anticipation of Listahanan 3 — resulting in unutilized funds by 2022.
Abalos said he understands Senator Marcos’ reason for decreasing the DSWD’s budget for the 4Ps — to avoid returning the funds to the treasury — but he noted that DSWD had already informed both the House and the Senate that with Listahanan 3 looming in 2023, a higher number of beneficiaries was expected.
READ: Solon: Imee move to cut 4Ps fund didn’t expect more beneficiaries
Anabelle Luna, vice president of urban poor group Samahang Nagkakaisa ng Pamilyang Pantawid (SNPP), claimed that 4Ps beneficiaries have struggled because of the lack of funds under DSWD.
“As a beneficiary, we parents who send children to school worry about possibly not receiving payouts during the proper time. It seems like a long shot for our cash cards to be debited,” she said.
“We know this is social aid but it is a big thing for us especially this can address our concerns and may lift us out of poverty,” she added.
INQUIRER.net has sought Senator Marcos’ side of the issue but she has not responded as of posting time.
The issue over the 4Ps were revealed Ako Bicol party-list Rep. Raul Angelo Bongalon — in response to Marcos’ tirades about the Ayuda para sa Kapos ang Kita Program (AKAP) — claimed that the Senator had made realignments in the 2023 budget that led to 4.3 million poor Filipinos not getting cash aid.
Marcos, in a Senate hearing, raised questions about AKAP, a one-time cash grant for the near-poor, which she believes was inserted during the bicameral conference committee meetings.
Marcos claimed the said program was unknown to senators — especially her since she sponsored DSWD’s budget for 2024 when it was still being deliberated. She also speculated that AKAP funds were used to entice people into signing in favor of the People’s Initiative campaign to amend the Constitution, which some senators believe was being orchestrated by House leaders.