Aquino appeals to Senate to approve CCT budget 11/13/2010

Aquino appeals to Senate to approve CCT budget

11/13/2010
Budget Secretary Florencio ‘Butch’ Abad, chief architect of the 2011 national budget of President Aquino, echoed the appeals issued by Malacanang recently with respect to the growing number of senators who are reportedly moving to slash, if not block, the ratification of the hefty P21-billion budget that the administration allotted for the conditional cash transfer (CCT) program of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) once debates roll on the Senate floor.

In an interview he granted to some reporters last Thursday evening, Abad said he understands where the concerns of most senators were coming from but he described them as “prospective” which are better addressed once the program has taken shape.

“I don’t think that they [lawmaker critics] are questioning the program itself. Their questions are more or less along the lines of the ability of DSWD to absorb that the whole amount of money and some logistical concerns like: How are you going to monitor? How do you make sure that those in the list are legitimate? But, you know, these are questions that are better addressed after, you know, sometime towards the middle of next year because you know the past government is different,” Abad claimed when asked if the government is amenable to having the P21-billion budget slashed by the Senate just in case.

Abad has taken pride at the supposed “enthusiastic support” they have obtained from various sectors which sets the Aquino administration apart from the previous government toward executing the CCT program this time around..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20101113nat7.html