A visit to a Dumaguete school has impressed Malacanang on the success of the implementation of the government’ s Conditional Cash Transfer program, as it defended the CCT amid latest survey of the Social Weather Station stating an increase in self-rated poverty.
“We have been going around. We make it a point to talk to the beneficiaries in provinces that are not part of (Metro) Manila or in some other cities and the feedback is almost usually the same — na malaki ang nagiging tulong (ng CCT sa kanila),” said Deputy Spokesperson Abigail Valte in a press briefing.
Valte said there are many indicators by which to measure the success of the implementation of the CCT program, and proceeded to cite the Dumaguete example.
One indicator, she said, is in class attendance. “I remember there was one public school in Dumaguete that we had gone to and I asked the principal how the school attendance was.”
Valte recounted that the principal told her that the students not only come to class but even show their teachers the things brought for them, like shoes, under the said CCT program. “This is where the money goes and the beneficiaries are usually more than open to share their relationships,” she added.
Valte also noted that before the families of the children were made part of the CCT program, around 85 percent were able to go to school, and when they became beneficiaries of the program, about 95 percent of the children are now attending classes.
“So that’s just one of the many indicators by which you can see and measure the success of the program. But the best (way), to me, is to talk to the families themselves,” she said.
On the SWS survey showing an increase in the self-rated poverty, Valte said the government will look into the survey numbers considering that a recent survey also showed that ewer Filipinos have experienced hunger.
“We are going to look into those numbers actually because in the same survey it cites naman that hunger incidence also went down. So it is safe to assume that our experts will be looking at the numbers also just to see what is there… what the numbers reveal,” she said. (PNA)
