PRESIDENT Aquino on Wednesday said he hoped that the next president would continue the government programs that assist the poor, such as the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) program, to make the country’s economic growth more inclusive.
In a speech delivered during a conference on sustaining the gains of the CCT, held at the Asian Development Bank headquarters in Mandaluyong, President Aquino reported that the government has continued to develop ways to make the CCT program more sustainable, fine-tuning its various components to ensure that it yields the maximum benefits.
“We have modified the program to provide support to families that are not covered by the regular CCT, such as those in the streets, as well as indigenous peoples,” he said.
Another reform measure is the use of remittance and money transfer services to ensure the safe and timely delivery of grants to beneficiaries in far and isolated areas, he added.
The Aquino administration has also increased the budget of the CCT program since its implementation, from P10 billion in 2010 to P62 billion in 2015.
“This has allowed us to increase the beneficiaries from some 786,000 poor households when we assumed office, to close to 4.4 million poor households and homeless families empowered by the program nationwide, in five years,” he said.
The President further said that for 2016, the government has increased the budget allocation to P62.7 billion to cover 4.6 million households, including those who have graduated from extreme poverty and are now considered “near poor” or those who are at risk of sliding back to an impoverished state with just one catastrophic disease or a natural disaster.
Noting that CCT beneficiaries will only be able to reap the full benefits of the government’s support long after his term, President Aquino emphasized that sustaining and refining the program will be left to the hands of his successor.
He lamented the possibility that the next president would opt to put a stop to the CCT, “leaving the fate of millions of our countrymen in limbo”.
If this were to happen, he said, the Philippines would definitely lose its hard-earned momentum.
“I believe the Filipino people have seen that Daang Matuwid is a correct path, with proven results, towards ending the vicious cycle of poverty. They have indeed seen that good governance is good economics,” the President said.
“It is my deepest hope that, coming into the elections, our people have realized that they can demand for more good governance, and I believe that they will choose the right leader—one who has integrity and experience, who will sustain our gains, and who will definitely put country above self.”
He expressed faith that Filipinos will not allow all the work of his government to be undone.
“Through the power of the ballot, they will remind all those who make a promise to serve that they—the people—are the Bosses on the ‘straight path’, one that has led us to the cusp of permanent change,” he added.
President Aquino pledged that in his remaining months in office, the administration will do its utmost to move the country further along that path, towards a more progressive and equitable future to ensure that the freedoms of the people are truly protected and completely realized. (from PND)