CCT budget for this year to hit P78 B

MANILA, Philippines - President Aquino yesterday vowed to increase this year’s budget for the government’s conditional cash transfer (CCT) program to alleviate poverty.

Budget Secretary Florencio Abad estimated this year’s CCT budget to be P78 billion.

“We have begun to see the results of our investments in our people. We will witness the fruits of our decision to expand the conditional cash transfer program to include families with high-school aged children,” he said. 

Aquino made the remarks in a speech at the annual Philippines Investment Forum held at the Manila Peninsula Hotel in Makati City yesterday.

The P78 billion was based on the projected P15.4-billion increase from the P62.6-billion budget that the Department of Social Welfare and Development got for its CCT program. 

In July last year, Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr., chief of the Presidential Communications and Operations Office, said the budget expansion was due to the increase in coverage from 4.3 million to five million households.

Budget records show that when Aquino took over in 2010, the government sought and obtained Congress’ approval for its CCT budget of P29.2 billion in 2011, which rose to P39.4 billion in 2012 and to P44.3 billion in 2013.