Press Release
March 14, 2013

Cayetano presents P8 billion PTK plan

Senator Alan Cayetano wants government to allocate P8 billion as a part of his PTK plan to address country's problems of mataas na Presyo, kawalan ng Trabaho, at kakulangan ng Kita.

Cayetano presented his platform of PTK: Presyo, Trabaho Kita to address poverty at a grand launch in Taguig City University (TCU) yesterday in front of a 3,000-person strong audience consisting of Filipinos from the youth, senior citizen, women, and blue-collar workers sectors, among others.

There, Cayetano suggested a second phase of the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) program where the government would allocate P500 million to each region in the country to support existing SMEs and help establish new ones. "No province should be left behind. All families should feel the effects of the 6.6 percent GDP growth at the same time," he said. "We have to increase SME owners' access to capital to stop these business owners from borrowing from 5-6 operators who charge with steep interest rates."

He said that such a program would help sustain and bring life to the country's industries. It can also be used to strengthen existing cooperatives, as well as establish new ones, to help keep these industries afloat.

"I believe in the saying 'Give a man fish and he will eat for a day, teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime.' By empowering small businessmen, the government will also empower Filipino families to earn a living through their own successful efforts," he said.

Cayetano realized that the lack of access to capital was a big problem as he went around country. Here he heard Filipinos voice out not only their problems but also the solutions to their problems. "Gagamitin ko ang mga solusyon ninyo dahil kahit na alam ko ang mga problema ninyo, mas alam ninyo ang mga problema ninyo at ang angkop na solusyon dito," he said.

The CCT program is a poverty reduction strategy that provides cash grants to extremely poor households to allow the members of the families to meet certain human development goals. The focus is on building human capital of poorest families given the observation that low schooling, ill- health and high level of malnutrition are strongly associated with the poverty cycle in the Philippines.

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