700,000 ADDITIONAL BENEFICIARIES OF CCT PROGRAM NEXT YEAR

Government intends to enroll an additional 700,000 household beneficiarie for the Conditional Cash Transsfer (CCT) program for next year, from this year's target of 2.3 million families, raising hopes that the program would improve the lives of the impoverished.

Senator Franklin Drilon, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said that as of September 5, a total of 2.23 million households were registered in the program.

"Right now, the beneficiaries are placed at 2.3 million households and by the end of 2012, with an additional budget of P39.4 billion, the beneficiaries will reach up to 3 million households," said Drilon, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.

The Aquino administration is allotting P39.4 billion for the program in the 2012 budget, from this year's P21 billion funding, to cover more beneficiaries.

Likewise, senators have expressed support to the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT), with Drilon citing the gains from the program which took off in 2008.

Drilon said the CCT, also called the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, said "If you are to judge the CCT program on the basis of the assessment so far of various agencies, indeed there is a reason to be optimistic about the success of the program."

Senators Edgardo Angara and Panfilo Lacson also backed the CCT, saying they were generally satisfied with the way the program has been implemented under the Aquino administration.

The CCT is an allowance scheme for poor households with children 0-14 years old that will require beneficiary families to send their children to school and have regular visits to health centers. It is a five-year program for every family enrolled, and the first enrollees started in 2008.

Drilon said the World Bank made its finding that in its three years of implementation, the program has shown "positive impact" on the beneficiaries and the conditionalities have helped improve the education and health of the children.

"Anecdotal evidence shows that net education enrolment rates of children in beneficiary households have risen," said the Washington-based institution in its Social Protection Note released in May 2011.

Further, the conclusion of the University of the Philippines-National College of Public Administration and Governance, he said, is that the CCT is a "bridge program towards poverty alleviation and not a program to eradicate poverty totally. It is principally a human resource development through health and educational assistance."

The Social Weather Stations also noted that 95% of children ages 6-11 years old and 94% of those 12-14 years old fulfill school attendance requirement, among other positive findings of the pollster in its spot checks.

Drilon pointed out the success of the program's implementation based on the significant compliance rate of beneficiaries as of June this year, with health visits of pregnant women and children 0-5 years old placed at 94.83%; day care education of 3-5 years, 92.09%; education of children ages 6-14, 93.04%; family development sessions, 97.3%; and deworming of children, 94.6%.

Soliman told a budget hearing that the program intends to cover 5.2 million households and admitted that this would go beyond the term of President Aquino, as she expressed optimism that the next administration would adopt the CCT program for continuity. She said that the program will still enroll households in 2015 and the beneficiaries on that year would exit the program in 2020.

Meanwhile, total projected funding for the CCT program will reach P346.7 billion by 2020, Soliman said, as "roughly 10 million children" would be able to finish elementary by that time.

The DSWD chief said that the agency is now providing "sustainable livelihood" now so that when the beneficiaries exit from the program, "they will be self-reliant."