Gov’t mulls magna carta for poor without housing rights

MANILA, Philippines - The government plans to come out with a magna carta for the poor without any provision for housing rights.

Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said the Cabinet social services cluster of which the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) is part is expected to come out with the magna carta in time for the State of the Nation Address of President Aquino in July.

“Our cluster has been tasked to come out with a proposed development plan that would create conditions that would enable the poor to enjoy their rights,” she said.

“But the proposal must be a progressive implementation of the plan that it won’t be demandable for the people to seek housing units from the government.”

Baldoz said the government cannot be mandated to give the poor their own homes.

“The President wants it to be part of his legislative agenda which he will be presenting to the next Congress,” she said.

Baldoz said the DOLE is working with Malacañang for the drafting of the Labor Day plan of the government.

Aquino intends to present to workers his programs for labor in his last three years, she added.

Secretary Corazon Soliman said the job was given to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), being the head of the Cabinet Cluster on Human Development and Poverty Reduction.

“The version that was vetoed had gaps... One is it did not give guidelines for the progressive implementation of the rights,” she said.

Soliman said the government has already increased the budget for education  and implemented universal health care and conditional cash transfer (CCT) programs.

The government hopes to have the bill passed in the 16th Congress, she added.

‘Abolish CCT’

Anakpawis has called on the the government to abolish the conditional cash transfer (CCT) program and instead invest in practical and concrete measures to mitigate the increasing poverty among citizens.

Anakpawis vice-chairman Fernando Hicap said the recent World Bank report that the Aquino administration’s anti-poverty program failed to have a significant effect on the supposed beneficiaries confirmed what progressive groups have warned about the CCT.

“Aside from being an ineffective and expensive measure, the CCT also lacks transparency and accountability,” he said.

Hicap said the Commission on Audit (COA) has reported that almost 10  percent of the CCT beneficiaries are not really poor.

“Beneficiaries in Baguio, Apayao, Batangas and Iloilo were found to have sizable farms that produced rice, corn and other crops,” he said.

Some beneficiaries were found to own big concrete houses. Others have household members with steady regular jobs.”

Hicap said the DSWD has yet to report on the missing P3.77 billion in disbursements.

“The DSWD has yet to release its report on the costly bunkhouses and relief goods for typhoon ‘Pablo’ victims,” he said.

“With all these proof of irregularities, the government still hasn’t pulled the plug on what is an obvious misuse of the people’s money.

“Despite the report, no officials of DSWD and other attached agencies involved in the said anomalies have been formally charged in the Ombudsman or Sandiganbayan.

“The lack of concrete and practical measures like genuine agrarian reform and national industrialization are the root cause why dole-out measures like the CCT came into place. Programs like the CCT exposed taxpayers’ money to corrupt government officials and they are getting away with it.”

  – With Rainier Allan Ronda, Rhodina Villanueva