Fishy is, as fishy does FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares 05/22/2011

Fishy is, as fishy does

FRONTLINE

Ninez Cacho-Olivares

05/22/2011
It was suspicious enough that Dinky Soliman’s budget for the conditional cash transfer (CCT) was increased to an exorbitant P21 billion for the year, amid claims that the number of beneficiaries from the poorest of the poor would be increased to 2.3 million. Now however, Dinky, aided by Budget Secretary Butch Abad, says that P2 billion more is needed for the program, despite admission that the number of beneficiaries remained the same, plus the fact that only 1.9 million families have been identified as beneficiaries, along with the report that some 1,500 families have been delisted, as they were claimed to be well-off.

Two things are crystal clear: One is that the CCT program is not being implemented well and there is a highly questionable and non-transparent way in the disbursement of the cash grants.

As things stand, only about 1.7 million families reportedly have received the CCT funds, which raises the question of where the rest of the money went, since more billions are needed, apart from which, not all the 2.3 million family-beneficiaries have been identified..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110522com2.html