With PH poverty alleviation budget already in trillions
Nancy urges NEDA-PSA to monitor success, failure rate of gov't livelihood programs
...sees need for all govt agencies to consolidate database

Senator Nancy Binay urged the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) and the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) to create a consolidated database to monitor success rates of livelihood programs financed by the government.

"Dapat yung mga livelihood programs na binibigay sa mga tao, kooperatiba, at organisasyon dapat minomonitor ng ahensyang nagbigay," Binay said.

"Hindi lang yung basta makapagbigay. Dapat may study ang bawat ahensya. Dapat rationalized at may significant impact sa beneficiary, at importante din malaman kung ano ang economic returns ng mga programang ito," she added.

The senator expressed her concern after a recent virtual briefing of the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) on the proposed 2021 National Expenditure Program revealed the absence of available data on the results of government livelihood programs.

"Maybe in the next budget we can provide funds to conduct a study for these types of programs since we have been spending a lot for these," Binay said.

According to Binay, if a certain agency aims to provide P20,000 cash assistance to those who want to start a business or livelihood, there should be a mechanism where it can monitor, assess, and report its success, and follow up the progress or failure of the intended startup.

"Gusto natin malaman kung bakit nga ba P20k ang ibibigay na startup sa isang gustong mag-nenegosyo? Bakit hindi 50k or P100k? Ano ang basis ng P20k at anong mga negosyo ang pwedeng masimulan sa ganyang puhunan?" Binay said.

"Kapag naibigay na, namo-monitor ba ng ahensya kung umunlad yung buhay nung recipient? Nakapagtayo nga ba talaga ng negosyo? Ano na ang nangyari sa pamilyang tinulungan?" she pointed out.

Binay said the lack of data on the success rate of government programs is alarming considering the billions to trillions of pesos the government had already invested in past programs for the past decades.

"Kulang tayo sa research, planning and monitoring. Imagine trilyun-trilyon na ang suma-tutal ng mga livelihood programs na inilabas ng gobyerno sa nakaraang mga dekada for poverty alleviation pero parang wala namang pag-unlad kung pagbabatayan natin ang objectives ng ayuda," Binay said.

"Importante ang ganitong mga datos dahil kelangan nating malaman kung sulit ba itong pagbibigay natin ng pondo sa mga ganitong klaseng programa," she added.

The senator had earlier questioned the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) on how the agency is monitoring its repatriation grant to displaced OFWs amounting to P20,000.

During a Senate hearing, OWWA chief Hans Leo Cacdac admitted that while there are success stories from OFWs using the aid, the agency does not have "full-fledged" data on the matter.

In a bid to accelerate poverty reduction and promote growth in areas where poverty incidences are high, government agencies are given allocations to embark on a concerted effort to ensure that the factors limiting the poor's participation in the economy growth are addressed.

Most of the government agencies (like DOLE, DSWD, DA, DILG, DND-OPPAP, TESDA, DTI, DepEd, DOST, etc.) have allocations for poverty alleviation programs, but fail to monitor the success or failure rates of their programs and their beneficiaries.