DSWD delists over 160,000 unqualified CCT beneficiaries

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has delisted over 160,000 names from the list of beneficiaries of the government’s conditional cash transfer (CCT) program known as the Pantawid Pamilya Pilipino Program (4Ps) after it was discovered that they were not from the so-called “poorest of the poor.”

Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman also said the Grievance Redress System (GRS) of the 4Ps is firmly in place and is directly addressing issues on identification of CCT beneficiaries.

Soliman issued the statement following a Commission on Audit (COA) report which found that money spent on the CCT program ended up in the hands of gamblers, drug pushers and even rich people.

In a 2010 report, COA said some CCT beneficiaries, mostly in Metro Manila, had used the cash dole-outs to finance their illegal gambling activities. COA also said there was something wrong in the selection process of the DSWD, as some beneficiaries even own lands, businesses, cars, and other properties.

“The GRS tracks and attends to complaints from excluded or delisted households or members of the public regarding the inclusion of non-poor individuals in the program,” Soliman said.

Soliman said re-assessment and validation surveys are also being done by the National Household Targeting System on Poverty Reduction to correct errors in the identification of beneficiaries.

“It should be taken into account that poor households are selected using the National Household Targeting System through the proxy means test (PMT), which is a statistical model that estimates the income per capita of households based on proxy indicators,” Soliman said.

She said the PMT is the targeting tool used in most Latin American countries implementing the CCT such as Mexico and Brazil.

“Overall, since its initial implementation in 2008, the major systems of the CCT are tighter with the beneficiary updating, compliance verification and grievance redress system complementing each other to secure that only the rightful beneficiaries are included in the program,” Soliman stressed.

“It is also of prime importance to note that inclusion and exclusion errors are inevitable because this is not a perfect system,” the DSWD chief said.

“This is also the exact reason why tighter monitoring and efficient systems such as the GRS are now in place to promptly address and prevent selection errors,” she added.

Soliman urged the public to report issues and concerns on the CCT to GRS text hotline 09189122813 or send their complaints to [email protected].