Sun Star, 27July 2011
GIVE us jobs, instead of cash.
That is what recipients of the government’s conditional cash transfer program have expressed, according to a study undertaken by Social Watch Philippines.
In a self-perception survey conducted in 2009 and 2010, University of the Philippines professor Marivic Raquiza said that “some” beneficiaries found the cash grant wanting.
The survey involved 160 respondents equally distributed in the rural area of Sibagat, Agusan del Sur, and in the urban area of Riverside Tramo, Pasay City.
Backed by the National Economic Development Authority (Neda) and the United Nations Development Program, the survey also included interviews with officials of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Department of Health (DOH), Department of Education (DepEd) and the World Bank.
In a later research conducted by Raquiza, she discovered that reduced poverty incidence is not simply the result of linking cash transfer beneficiaries to Kalahi-CIDSS and Sea-K (Self Employment Assistance-Kaunlaran) programs.
She explained that the benefits of Kalahi-CIDSS have generated, at best, localized impact on poverty reduction such as the opening of a road has made it easier for farmers to bring their produce to the market.
“But it has not made a dent on reducing over-all poverty. In one case study, the data showed that poverty incidence even rose in a municipality where a Kalahi-CIDSS project was implemented. Research has shown that SEA-K activities revolve around mostly low-value trade and commercial activities,” Raquiza said in an email.
Department of Social and Welfare Development (DSWD) Secretary Corazon “Dinky” Soliman disagreed.
“We recognize that (findings) and we are providing sustainable livelihood. But to say that they (beneficiaries) prefer sustainable livelihood rather than accept direct assistance, I suggest that they talk to the beneficiaries and find out if that’s what they see,” she told Sun.Star.
Soliman said the survey may not be representative of the sentiment of the estimated two million households already enrolled in the program.
For instance, the DSWD said a group of 10 women recipients in Cebu City was able to put up a sari-sari store, a small carinderia and barbecue stand through a loan of P75,000 from the SEA-K.
SEA-K is a form of saving and credit facility provided to beneficiaries to help them finance income-generating projects that would augment their low income.
“I was able to draft our association’s project proposal for SEA-K. The trainings I received also enhanced my self-esteem, and now, I feel confident to attend gatherings and talk to people,” CCT recipient and team leader Lucy Dayundul was quoted as saying in the DSWD report.
The CCT or Pantawid Pamilya provides cash grants to poor eligible households on the condition that lactating or pregnant mothers and young children avail of preventive health care and that school-aged children regularly attend school.
The program is now on its mid-level target of reaching the 4.6 million poor households identified by the National Statistical and Coordination Board (NSCB) by the end of 2013, according to the DSWD.
So far, the program has delisted 155,499 households due to inclusion errors, fraud, multiple entries, waived, failed to attend community assemblies, and moved-out to non-Pantawid Pamilya areas.
At a press briefing after submitting the 2012 proposed budget to Congress on Tuesday, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad Jr. said P16 billion will be added to the program to cover three million households next year.
President Benigno Aquino III allotted P23 billion in 2011 for the program initiated by his political enemy former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in 2008.
"This is not a dole out. This is investment in human capital because we require parents to bring their children to school, encourage them to have immunization, prenatal and maternal check-ups," Abad said in an apparent swipe to CCT critics.
The government has already released P4.13 billion to cover cash grants from January to May this year.
Pressures
Meanwhile, Social Watch stressed that education does not guarantee access to the jobs market, citing that 4.6 million are unemployed.
Of this number, 44 percent are high school graduates or undergraduates, and 43 percent are college graduates or undergraduates.
Factors that result in higher unemployment numbers include insufficient labor demand and the inability of workers to change jobs and move into other industries, Social Watch said.
"The need for job creation and to improve existing work acquires greater resonance in the context of both complementation and exit strategies of the Pantawid Pamilya," Raquiza noted.
She also cited that health and education performance outcomes of the CCT are limited and inconclusive.
Raquiza said the experience of the most established CCT programs — those in Mexico and Brazil — show that educational achievements of student-beneficiaries were dismaying as they scored either the same or worse compared to non-beneficiary students.
This was also true of an evaluation of CCT in Cambodia where higher enrollment rates of CCT beneficiaries were not accompanied by improved learning outcomes, she said.
The evidence is that learning and health outcomes either stay the same, or may even get worse, as increased demand puts additional pressure on education and health infrastructure that are of poor quality to begin with, and from inadequate personnel, according to Raquiza.
Her observations were once shared by the political opposition led by Arroyo, who doubted the efficacy of the program given the lack of classrooms and health centers in the country.
Raquiza said the UN Research Institute for Social Development argues that in many developing country contexts, improvements in education and health indicators might be better achieved by investing directly in the supply of these services. (Virgil Lopez/Sunnex)
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