DSWD told to submit quarterly reports on CCT program

MANILA, Philippines -  Davao City Rep. Karlo Nograles has asked Social Welfare and Development Secretary Corazon Soliman to submit quarterly reports on the implementation of the P22-billion conditional cash transfer (CCT) program.

Aside from Soliman, Nograles said regional officials of her department should periodically inform lawmakers on the use of the CCT funds.      “Let us be vigilant in our respective districts and demand that DSWD regional directors report to us on the implementation of the CCT program. This is the flagship project of the new administration, let us all help in making it succeed,” he said.

Nograles said he received information that undeserving people are benefiting from the cash transfers, which are intended only for the “poorest of the poor.”

“Many quarters are saying that those who stand to benefit from the CCT are not among the poorest of the poor,” he added.

In fact, Nograles said some of those receiving cash own appliances such as television sets and even air-conditioning units.

“Worse, some are reportedly kagawads (barangay councilmen), barangay captains and their relatives, he said.

He said precious taxpayers’ money is going to the wrong hands because the DWSD hired “surveyors” from outside the city or the province to identify CCT beneficiaries.

“The DSWD would get the surveyors from outside the province or city and bring them to the host city to be housed in the rooms of the barangay captain. Therefore, these people who are conducting the survey would be compelled to follow the barangay captain in identifying the poorest of the poor,” said.

As a result, there is confusion as to the actual listing of the rightful beneficiaries, he said.

In fact, Nograles said that in a recent hearing of the House committee on health on universal PhilHealth coverage, congressmen discovered that the DSWD and Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) have separate listings of CCT beneficiaries.

The DILG identified six million Filipinos belonging to the poorest of the poor while the DSWD classified as poorest of the poor some four million Filipinos.

“Why the big discrepancy?” Nograles asked. He said he could understand if the difference was just a few hundred or a few thousand people.

He said he has urged the DILG and the DSWD to submit to Congress their respecting listing, broken down per district, to enable lawmakers to verify their existence and determine who among the beneficiaries actually belong to the poorest of the poor.

The CCT program aims to financially help about one million households with cash assistance ranging from P400 to P1,200 a month for 12 months.

It is patterned after a similar project in Brazil.