Government's shift to social programs over cash handouts gains support

MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang’s agenda to use social programs to address poverty is much better than focusing on perpetual cash dole-outs.

This is the remark of former Sen. Panfilo Lacson in response to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s recent declaration that assistance programs such as cash subsidy and emergency employment aid are not about keeping poor Filipinos dependent. 

“Our social programs provide welfare armor to the vulnerable but they also provide the means to overcome the very state that they find themselves in,” Marcos said in his New Year’s message posted on Facebook.  

“Thus, most ayudas are not a type of permanent welfare because we do not promote a life of dependency. Kaya nga ang pangunahin at tamang konsepto ay pantawid hindi palagian,” he said.

Lacson agreed with the president’s remarks, adding that these initiatives must be reshaped into providing sustainable livelihood or job opportunities instead. 

Isang kasalu-saludo na pahayag ng isang pangulo ng bansa na matagal na dapat naging polisya para na pagbibigay ng ayuda sa mga kapus-palad na Pilipino. Pero, sana wala nang mambabatas na mamumudmod ng AICS at TUPAD at hayaan na lang sa mga ahensya ng ehekutiba ang implementasyon.

— PING LACSON (@iampinglacson) January 2, 2024

“Isang kasalu-saludo na pahayag ng isang pangulo ng bansa na matagal na dapat naging polisya para na pagbibigay ng ayuda sa mga kapus-palad na Pilipino,” Lacson posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Former Sen. Panfilo Lacson.

Ping Lacson Staff/Release, File

On Facebook, Lacson also shared his previous statement on the matter of social programs which were aligned with the government’s agenda for social programs. 

Lacson said the country’s social programs must bear “an overarching objective to drive our people back to work, not subsist on dole-outs all their lives.” 

This was in agreement with Marcos, who explained in his New Year’s message that effective aid is not about keeping Filipinos stuck in poverty, but instead about helping them break free from such hardship. 

“Ang epektibong ayuda ay hindi binuburo ang tao sa kahirapan. The objective is to graduate from poverty,” he said.

The president also assured the public that the government’s free college program and other scholarship projects will continue this year. 

Livelihood grants and product incubation assistance will also serve as government equity to skilled and talented Filipinos to help attain their dreams.

The chief executive also promised to continue to give support to farmers, from seedlings to fertilizers to fuel “because their sweat alone should not nurture the crops they grow in feeding the nation.”