Family listing for cash dole-outs 81% done — DBM

MANILA, Philippines — Budget Secretary Florencio B. Abad said 81.6 percent of 2.34 million families targeted for the P21-billion conditional cash transfer(CCT) program have been listed, belying doubts among critics that the fund might not be used fully.

“At the pace that 4Ps [Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program] is proceeding, all 2.34 million indigent household-beneficiaries may already be receiving their cash grants as early as September,” Abad said.

He added that all targeted beneficiaries would have been registered by the end of June.

The budget chief said that as of the end of April — four months since the program kicked off — 1.9 million indigent household-beneficiaries or 81.6 percent of the 2.34-million target for 2011 have already been registered.

Citing data from the Department of Social Work and Development, he said that 1.47 million households would have started receiving their cash subsidies.

“That’s 77 percent of the registered households and 63 percent of the target,” he said.

Under the CCT component of 4Ps, indigent household-beneficiaries receive a monthly stipend of up to P1,400, or P500 per mother and P300 for each of up to three children.

This is on condition that mothers from these families shall avail of pre-natal and other maternal care check-ups, and that children attend 85 percent of their classes and that they are immunized.

According to the DSWD, the five regions with the biggest number of registered household-beneficiaries so far are: Bicol (205,436); Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao (201,316), Zamboanga Peninsula (194,393), Northern Mindanao (175,530); and Eastern Visayas (145,049).

Abad said that for 2012, the DSWD has proposed to expand the coverage of 4Ps to 3.04 million households, a 30-percent increase from the target this year.

The DSWD has proposed P34.65 billion for the CCT component of 4Ps, almost P14 billion higher than its budget this year.

“The Aquino government is scaling up its social protection packages for 2012, in line with its commitment to ensure direct, immediate and substantial support for the poor,” Abad said.

“We are looking at how to scale up funding for 4Ps so that we will eventually be able to cover all 4.6 million indigent households throughout the country by the end of President Aquino’s term,” he added.