‘Stay the course’ with gov’t dole, Aquino officials urge

Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima. FILE PHOTO

FINANCE Secretary Cesar V. Purisima on Sunday said the country “must stay the course”  as far as poverty reduction was concerned, as he pushed for the retention and expansion of the conditional cash transfer (CCT) program, also known as the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), in the next six years.

In a statement, Purisima said the program’s expansion would cover  transient poor families, who represent  9 percent of the population and  who are at risk of falling back into poverty due to illness and disasters.

“The children of those  covered by 4Ps are healthier and more educated, widening the field of opportunity and empowering them to break free from the poverty trap,” said Purisima, who also chairs the economic development cluster.

He urged the next administration to push through with financial inclusion initiatives such as microinsurance and a credit information system,  along with movable collateral registries would will give the poor and micro businesses access to finance and opportunity.

Poverty incidence slid

Last week, the Philippine Statistics Authority reported that the poverty incidence slid to 26.3 percent as of the first half of last year from 28.6 percent in 2009, or before President Aquino assumed office.

Economic managers, however,  said that moving forward, “downside risks remain as disasters and shocks threaten the poor, with food inflation putting  on the most pressure.”

“Three of the most destructive typhoons happened over the last four years. From 2011 to 2015, 94 typhoons hit the country, 9.3 percent more than from 2006 to 2010. Damage from these typhoons tripled to P242.9 billion in 2011-2015 compared to the previous five years,” they noted.

“Without the social safety nets we have painstakingly expanded due in large part to our wider fiscal space, poverty would have been much worse,” Budget Secretary Florencio B. Abad said.

 ‘Work is never over’

“Poverty is a multi-headed monster, the most wicked of the problems we face as a people. While we have enough humility to know that one administration cannot do it alone in just six years—indeed, it takes an entire nation to come together—we are likewise optimistic enough to keep the faith in our work to uplift those at the margins from poverty,” Abad  said.

“Today, millions of Filipinos live with less pain, less poverty, and with more hope and freedom. The enduring work against poverty is never over. This is precisely why it is important for all to be vigilantly critical and intellectually demanding of those who wish to lead this nation for the next six years,” Purisima said.

“Whether we succeed in lifting more Filipinos up from poverty or fall back on the mistakes of the past lies in the hands of every voter. Our active and responsible participation in our vibrant democracy is part and parcel of our work against poverty. We are confident the momentum to step forward is now greater than the inertia to fall back,” he added.