Rep. Zamora calls for end to CCT, says it fails to address poverty

San Juan City Rep. Ronaldo Zamora INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines – The House of Representatives minority floor leader on Monday called on President Benigno Aquino III to stop the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT), the administration’s dole-out program.

In the chamber’s traditional “Kontra Sona,” San Juan City Representative Ronaldo Zamora countered Aquino’s claims in his fifth State of the Nation Address (Sona) that the program uplifted Filipinos from poverty.

“Let us put an end to the CCT… It provides temporary relief but it does not provide what they really need – real jobs,” Zamora said of the poverty-alleviation program that gives monetary incentives to poor households which adhere to certain livelihood standards.

He said the dole-out program’s budget ballooned to a “gargantuan” P65 billion in 2014 from just P5 billion in 2010.

“What should have been a transitional program is now a gargantuan program,” Zamora said.

The lawmaker maintained that the country needed real jobs and not dole-outs.

“Real jobs are what we need,” Zamora said.

Aquino in his Sona last July 28 cited the CCT program as contributing to at least 2.5 million poor Filipinos who were uplifted from poverty.

RELATED STORIES

In the Know: Conditional cash transfer scheme

WB backs conditional cash transfer program

Deal inked for modified conditional cash transfer