It’s a breeze for DSWD budget

DSWD Secretary Corazon Soliman INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

The controversy and interest over the conditional cash transfer (CCT) program of the government appears to be the waning, at least in the House of Representatives.

On Thursday, the House approved in just 10 minutes the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) P55.97 billion budget for 2013, which includes P44.25 billion for the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (PPPP) or CCT program of the Aquino administration, its centerpiece antipoverty plan.

This was a marked difference from previous House debates on the DSWD budget, which used to take hours because of the numerous questions raised by lawmakers who believed the CCT funds would be put to better use elsewhere.

Under the CCT, poor families may receive up to P1,200 a month from the government provided they keep their children in school and the pregnant among them undergo regular checkups in public health centers.

In 2010, former President turned Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo spent hours questioning on the House floor the increase in the CCT budget for 2011, saying there were not enough classrooms and health centers to accommodate any more program beneficiaries.

Since then, however, the CCT program and its beneficiaries continued to expand, despite charges that some of those receiving benefits were not really poor.

Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman on Thursday told reporters the speedy approval of the DSWD budget was a first and she attributed this to her department’s regular reporting about its programs to the lawmakers.

The department sends out monthly and quarterly reports on the CCT and the Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services program, another government antipoverty measure.

 
Originally posted at 07:04 pm | Thursday, September 20, 2012