The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) clarified the issue raised by Ibon Foundation that the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) Program of the government was used as a pork barrel either for patronage purposes or lost to corruption.
The Department said that the cash assistance is paid directly by the Landbank of the Philippines to beneficiaries through cash card, over-the-counter, Globe Remit, Rural banks, Philpost, First Consolidated Bank, and Cooperative Financial Institutions.
The Department added that funds for the cash grants are all deposited in Landbank and do not pass through the hands of any DSWD official and staff.
IBON Foundation also cited the 2012 audit observations of the Commission on Audit (COA) which were addressed and resolved by the Department.
On the claim that disbursements for grants remain unliquidated, the DSWD said that of the P3.76B unliquidated COA findings as of the end of 2011, only P44M remains unliquidated as of September 30, 2013. On the other hand, the P3.44B paid to cash grantees from 2008 to 2011, only P1.647B as of September 30, 2013 has not been liquidated. The DSWD explained that the process of liquidation requires the submission of documentation of cash-pay-outs from the Landbank and will be a continuing activity as long as there are payouts until fully accounted.
The DSWD also clarified that the database of the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction shows that of the 7,782 household (HH) – beneficiaries reportedly missing, 7,762 households are all accounted to be on active beneficiary status as follows:
· 2,879 who are identified to be on active beneficiary status;
· 2,258 who have had their HH IDs deleted by the Regional Information and Technology Officer (RITO) from the NHTO (these were originally identified as Pantawid Pamilya partner beneficiaries prior to their deletion but will be reactivated with the concurrence of the RITOs involved);
· 1,396 whose HH IDs were detected as duplicated should actually be identified as being in active beneficiary status given the on-going synchronization of databases between NHTO and the Pantawid Pamilya within the year.
· 1,229 are active members whose files were tagged by the NHTO to temporarily identify them as cases with inconsistent data until such time that their records are updated. These cases were verified by the RITOs in the 2nd Quarter of 2013.
Likewise, the payment of P29M to beneficiaries in July and August 2012 for calamity support even if there was no compliance with conditionalities, the DSWD said that the payments were made on the basis of the DSWD-approved Force Majeure (FM) declaration in lieu of the required conditionalities of the program as stipulated in the Pantawid Pamilya Operations Manual (OM) that provides for a process to respond to the existence of a FM situation.
Raising doubts on the existence of some P27.7 million so-called PODER projects, the Department said that the 25 projects under PODER are all functional. The projects, which include health stations, school building, and day care centers, are located in Hinatuan, Surigao del Sur; Sta. Josefa, Agusan del Sur; Tubajon, Dinagat Island, and Sta. Monica, Surigao del Norte.
On the 36 bank accounts with P112.8M in balances which were allegedly opened without specific legal basis, the DSWD explained that it has closed six bank accounts and remitted the balance to the Bureau of Treasury (BTr) on June 14, 2013 amounting to P5,224,402.91. Another six bank accounts shall be closed before the end of October 2013, with accumulated balances amounting to P1,962,430.43.
The remaining 24 bank accounts totaling to P105,605,702.95 shall be reviewed and shall be evaluated for the need to request authority for the maintenance from the Permanent Committee (e.g donation accounts that need to be maintained by the Department for calamity purposes). If there is no need, rest assured that the balances of the said accounts shall be remitted to the BTr, or the funding institution and effect the immediate closure of these bank accounts as recommended by the COA.
Meanwhile, Social Welfare and Development Secretary Dinky Soliman refuted the claim of IBON Foundation head Sonny Africa that CCT does not really reduce poverty beyond the short-term dole-out.
Secretary Soliman said that, with the program ensuring that children are in school and are healthy, is the first step to break the intergenerational cycle of poverty.
“Children who reached at least high school level have a better fighting chance to be free from the bondage of poverty,” Secretary Soliman ended. ###
