Aquino: Scale, political will turned Arroyo’s CCT around

President Benigno Aquino III. FILE PHOTO

President Benigno Aquino III might have picked up where his predecessor left off but, according to him, his administration’s main poverty-alleviation program is nothing like that of former president and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

“Under my predecessor, the CCT, which was too small to have a true, lasting impact, was highly politicized,” Aquino said Wednesday during the  “Conference on Sustaining the Gains of the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) in the Philippines” held in Ortigas.

“The CCT was a means to manage discontent and reward allies, who in turn used the initiative to foster dependency and a culture of patronage among their poorest constituencies,” Aquino said.

The President said politicians under the past administration used the CCT for personal gain. He said they were more concerned about securing their position in government than helping the poor.

He said when he came into power in 2010, he and his team “took a long, hard look at the situation.”

“We implemented a two-pronged strategy—first, to right the wrongs and plug the leakages in the system to gain the capacity to address all the concerns we inherited; and second, to reevaluate the situation towards forging more effective initiatives,” he explained. “We came to the conclusion that, for the CCT to work—for it to have the impact that programs of its nature have achieved elsewhere—government had to expand the program’s scale and reach, and ensure a transparent process.”

READ: Poverty rise spurs Palace to go all out on CCT program

Aquino pointed out that it was the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s hard work that helped enhance the National Household Targeting System and addressed anomalies, in addition to the setting up of a grievance redress system.

“Scale and the political will to do right by our countrymen redounded to expanding opportunities for the present generation to enable them to take hold of their destinies and work their way out of poverty,” he explained.

Throughout Aquino’s term, the budget for CCT or Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) increased exponentially, from P10 million in 2010 to P62 billion in 2015.

The current budget aims to cover 4.6 million households.

“I must admit that, when we were discussing the program early on in the administration, I really wondered if the stipend and support given to a family would effectively uplift them from their situations. However, I believe we have proven that—with enough political will, the right and prudent concentration of resources and funds, and the proper implementation of a solution borne of our correct identification of problem—massive transformation can take place,” Aquino said.

The President cited studies reporting that 1.55 million families or 7.7 million beneficiaries of the CCT “have been lifted out of poverty.”

READ: Philippine poverty after five years on Aquino’s watch

“Given such a development, our National Economic and Development Authority projects the sustained reduction in our poverty incidence in terms of population: from what used to be 26.3 percent in 2009, to anywhere between 18 to 20 percent for 2016,” he said.

Aquino said one of the “key expansions” of the program was the coverage of households with high school students since “those who graduate from high school earn 40 percent more than those who merely attained some elementary education.”

“Just last year, the first batch of the 4th year high school student beneficiaries of CCT graduated; of the 333,673 graduates, over 13,400 finished with honors and various awards,” he said, adding that some of the graduates are now studying engineering at the University of the Philippines.

READ: CCT beneficiary to study civil engineering in UP

Aquino said such efforts have helped decrease the number of out-of-school youth.

“These same students who are able to attain a higher level of education thanks to the CCT, one day, through their contributions to the economy and through the taxes they remit, will help further break the cycle of poverty, and keep the engines of inclusiveness engaged at full throttle,” he said.

“In short: Through the CCT and other meaningful interventions, we are spurring a virtuous cycle, where empowered Filipinos in turn become the keys through which their fellowmen are likewise empowered.”

Referring to critics of the 4Ps, Aquino said people should understand that the effects of the program are “generational.”

READ: ‘CCT effect on poverty minimal’

“All the beneficiaries now covered by the program, and through them society in general, will only be able to reap the full benefits of government’s support long after I return to private life—which has now become a matter of months,” he said.

In an apparent endorsement of the administration’s presidential bet Manuel “Mar” Roxas II, Aquino said he hopes people would choose an aspirant who would continue championing the CCT like many of his government’s other programs.

“It is my deepest hope that, coming into the elections, our people have realized that they can demand for more good governance, and I believe that they will choose the right leader—one who has integrity and experience, who will sustain our gains, and who will definitely put country above self,” he said. IDL