‘CCT effect on poverty minimal’

Sen. Ralph Recto: What’s the reason? INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

MANILA, Philippines–After spending billions on its Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) program, why has the government not made a dent on poverty?

Sen. Ralph Recto on Monday posed this question to Social Welfare Secretary Dinky Soliman following studies showing that the poverty incidence in the country remained the same.

Recto said the poverty incidence at 26.3 percent in 2009 only slightly dipped to 25.2 percent in 2012, despite the P200 billion spending on CCT since 2010 and the country’s economic growth.

“It appears that the poor are even increasing in number,” Recto said during deliberations on the proposed 2015 budget of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) as chair of a finance subcommittee. “So what’s the reason for this?”

Soliman explained that the CCT—the centerpiece of the Aquino administration’s antipoverty program—was not “meant as a poverty reduction effort that will be felt by the poor as a whole.”

Human capital

“It’s an investment in human capital for the children of the poor to have a fighting chance to be part of inclusive growth. The impact of the investment on the children will be felt from the time the program started about 10 years from now,” she said.

Soliman also clarified that the poverty incidence for families dipped to 19.1 percent in the first semester of 2012 from 22.3 percent in the same period in 2009.

“What was observed was that the CCT was contributory, but it’s not the only thing that made it [poverty incidence] go down because of job generation and the creation of entrepreneurs by way of increasing their capacity,” she said.

Recto said the ranks of the poor would have grown bigger had the government not spent on CCT. Soliman agreed.

“You’re not making a dent yet, but at least, their ranks are not getting bigger,” the senator said.

Citing a study, Soliman said the ranks of people in extreme poverty did not grow bigger. She agreed with Recto that their lot had slightly improved from extreme poverty to poverty.

“Yes, it appears that way,” Soliman said, drawing chuckles, when asked by Recto if the extremely poor had become poor. “Rooting out poverty is a lifetime work. At least we’re able to bring down the number of the extremely poor.”