Gov’t cash program benefits Abra folk

By Freddie G. Lazaro

BANGUED, Abra – A cause-oriented group disclosed that the implementation of the monthly subsidies under the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) program gained a positive impact on the socio-economic activity of the residents of Abra province.

Also known as Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), its implementation in the 12 towns of Abra, the identified beneficiaries were initially enrolled under the first set of the program.

Pura Sumangil, chairperson of the Abra-based civil society group Concerned Citizens of Abra for Good Government (CCAGG) – an affiliate of Transparency International, said the government’s primary poverty alleviation program had made the lives of the 4Ps beneficiaries better.

The CCAGG, which embarked on a World Bank (WB)-funded independent evaluation on the efficacy of the CCT, learned from the beneficiaries that the monthly subsidies “had great effects on the education of children, on the health of children and pregnant mothers, on the values formation of families, and further, tagging it as ‘a life-boat’ for the beneficiaries when they literally have no money for schooling of children.”

A total of R44.25 billion has been allotted by government for 2013 to fund the program, aiming to enroll some 3.5 million households, each receiving more or less R1,000 a month.

Abra have the most number of poor families and individuals in the region with 15,182 families or 94,088 individuals living below the poverty line.

The province accounted for more than a quarter or 27.6 percent of all poor families in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR).

While Abra placed 6th in 2000, 19th in 2003, and 9th in 2009, with high poverty incidence among the 82 provinces around the country.