CCT should be institutionalized – Angara

By Hannah Torregoza

Reelectionist Senator Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara on Tuesday stressed the need to institutionalize the government’s conditional cash transfer (CCT) program in order to help poor Filipinos break the cycle of poverty.

Angara is referring to the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) which he said should be made permanent to give millions of poor Filipinos a better chance in life.

Senator Juan Edgardo ‘’Sonny’’ M. Angara
(FACEBOOK / MANILA BULLETIN)

The senator said it is important to institutionalize the 4Ps through legislation to ensure its continuity and unhampered implementation by any administration.

He pointed out that the 12-year-old human development program—designed to keep children in school and keep them healthy—had been proven to be an effective tool for poverty alleviation.

“The 4Ps helps reduce poverty and break the intergenerational cycle of poverty through investments in the health and education of Filipino children,” Angara said.

“This has been implemented for more than a decade and millions of families have been assisted by this program,” he said.

Angara added that the program also paved the way for more children to be given medical check-up, vaccination, and education.

“Millions of mothers have been given pre-natal services, were able to give birth in a health facility with the help of a health professional and were able to receive post-partum and post-natal care for their children,” he noted.

“Millions of Filipinos were also given PhilHealth coverage. In short, millions of Filipinos had a better start due to 4Ps,” he stressed.

The bill which seeks to institutionalize the 4Ps, is now one step closer to becoming a law after Congress approved the measure. Angara is one of the authors of the bill.

The enrolled bill will be sent to Malacañang for President Rodrigo Duterte’s signature.

“Passage of this bill into law is very important. If not, the program can be demolished and halted, instead of being strengthened and expanded by the next administration,” Angara said.

“If we stop this, those who have started to rise up from their poor situations would have a hard time to recover. This would not do if our dream is for our nation to rise and prosper,” he said.

First implemented in 2007, 4Ps invests in the health and education of poor households, particularly children aged 0-18 years old. It provides cash grants to beneficiaries provided that they comply with the set of conditions required by the program, similar to the CCT scheme being enforced in other developing countries.

According to Angara, data from the Department of Finance (DOF) showed that there are about 4.4 million active household beneficiaries under the 4Ps program as of January 14, 2019.

Each household beneficiary received a cash assistance of P200 monthly or a total of P2,400 per year in 2018. But this year and in 2020, cash assistance under the unconditional cash transfer (UCT) program would be increased to P300 per month or a total of P3,600.