Dinky off to Mamasapano with P10M in cash, tells poor sorry

A SOLDIER is stationed near a bullet-riddled wooden bridge in the village of Tukanalipao in Mamasapano town, Maguindanao province, in this photo taken weeks before Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman came to distribute cash to the impoverished community. RICHARD BALONGLONG/INQUIRER NORTHERN LUZON

MAMASAPANO, Maguindanao—Social Welfare Secretary Corazon “Dinky” Soliman on Tuesday was apologetic as she personally handed over some P10 million in cash to beneficiaries of the government’s Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), an original project of the Arroyo administration, here on Tuesday.

Soliman admitted before some 3,000 beneficiaries present during the distribution that the money came in late and the delay was due to security concerns following the killing of more than 60 people in this town, including 44 elite police commandos on a mission to kill or capture international terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir, alias “Marwan.”

“I want to apologize. I know it’s almost 12 months since we had our last payout for your grants under CCT (conditional cash transfer). I know all of you know the reason behind it. Our merchants are afraid to go here because of the conflict,” Soliman said.

The Jan. 25 debacle also triggered weeks of military operations that displaced over 100,000 people across 15 Maguindanao towns, including some 13,000 families under the government’s 4Ps program here.

The Land Bank of the Philippines and its authorized merchant that handles the fund disbursement had to suspend the distribution of cash for security reasons, she said, adding that a similar problem also confronted 4Ps beneficiaries in the Lanao del Sur town of Wao.

In her highly-secured visit to Tukanalipao village here, Soliman told residents the Department of Social Welfare and Development would also implement another program, called cash for asset rebuilding, which would help restore structures and livelihood projects destroyed by the violence.

She said funding for the program, to be implemented with the help of the United Nations and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao government, would depend on the needs of each family. Charlie Senase and Jeoffrey Maitem, Inquirer Mindanao