Palace seeks P2 billion more for CCT program

MANILA, Philippines -  Malacañang needs an additional P2 billion for the government’s P21-billion conditional cash transfer (CCT) program for the poor.

Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said Budget Secretary Florencio Abad and Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman would have to get the source of the funding.

“So Butch Abad will find a way to plug that P2 billion. I’m not sure where Abad will source the money.”

Lacierda said the government remains on track in its CCT program being implemented by the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

It now has at least 1.4 million beneficiaries, out of the total registered 1.9 million, he added.

Lacierda said the target beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilya program is 2.3 million families.

“Next year the target is 3 million,” he said.

“We have scheduled more than half already, by May. So we hope to be able to address all of the beneficiaries by the end of December (this year).”

Lacierda said Soliman and Abad need P23 billion for the anti-poverty program.

Congress approved the P21-billion CCT program under the General Appropriations Act of 2011.

During a hearing at the House of Representatives, Soliman said there is a need to augment the P21-billion CCT budget for this year, raising this to P23.3 billion, even if the beneficiaries remain pegged at 2.3 million families.

She told Guimaras Rep. Joaquin Carlos Nava, who presided over the hearing of the House appropriations committee, that they had utilized the services of another money remittance service firm, Globe Telecoms through their G-Remit program.