Itemize P22.5-B lump sum funds, DSWD asked

MANILA, Philippines - Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman has been asked to itemize the P22.5-billion lump sum provisions in the proposed budget of her agency for 2015.

Gabriela party-list Rep. Emmerenciana de Jesus made the call during the hearing on the proposed P108-billion budget of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) conducted by the House committee on appropriations on Thursday.

She was referring to the P17.5-billion Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services and the P5-billion Sustainable Livelihood Program, which comprise nearly a fifth of the agency’s proposed budget.

“Since these two projects are to be implemented in many cases in the same local government units, there is a high likelihood of double appropriations. Therefore, these need to be itemized thoroughly to avoid having the agency violate the Supreme Court ruling against discretionary funds,” De Jesus said.

She also demanded an explanation on the use of discretionary sums funded by foreign loans.

Meanwhile, Soliman said 1.5 million children have been added to this year’s beneficiaries of the expanded conditional cash transfer (CCT) program.

She said they expect the number of beneficiaries to further increase as the program will also cover those aged 14 to 18.

The DSWD expects the CCT coverage to hit 10.2 million beneficiaries under its expanded program. – With Rainier Allan Ronda