INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines—The impoverished families who regularly receive financial aid from the government must be made to do more than just send their children to school and have children and pregnant women undergo regular checkups.
They must also try to be better citizens by being made to fulfill additional duties, according to a bill filed by Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez and Abante Mindanao Rep. Maximo Rodriguez.
At present, the over 4 million households that benefit from the P62.6 billion conditional cash transfer program are required to ensure their children aged 3 to 14 years old must attend classes 85 percent of the time and undergo deworming twice a year, while pregnant women must get pre- and post-natal care.
Parents or guardians must also attend responsible parenting sessions and classes on health, nutrition, and other topics fit for their needs.
Under the Rodriguez brothers’ bill, the program beneficiaries must also be required to plant trees in their surroundings, assist or volunteer in bayanihan work in their barangays, and not throw garbage in their yards and maintain cleanliness in their surroundings.
Families under the conditional cash transfer program, who are among the poorest of the poor in the country, could receive a maximum of P1,400 per month.
The bill seeks to make it a policy of the state to free the people from poverty through policies that provide adequate social services, and promote full employment, a rising standard of living, and an improved quality of life for all.
The conditional cash transfer program began with the Arroyo administration and was continued and expanded by the Aquino administration, despite criticism that it promotes a culture of mendicancy.
But the Department of Social Welfare and Development, which administers the program, has countered this by noting that the amount given to each household covers only about 18 percent of its needs, meaning that this is not enough to cover all of its expenses.
It also said the program was an investment in the health and education of poor households and their children, who would later on contribute to the country’s productivity and development.
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