Pro-life supports scrap of CCT funds

Pro-life Philippines supports the proposal to exclude the conditional cash transfer (CCT) from the 2015 national budget.

Pro-life Philippines president Eric B. Manalang believes the government’s Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, popularly known as “Four P’s”, barely improves the quality of lives of poor Filipinos who are supposed to benefit from it.

Quoting a classic adage, he stressed, “Don’t give a man the fish, but teach him how to fish to eat for a lifetime.”

Prolife Philippines president Eric B. Manalang calls on the government to devote more time and resources to long-term livelihood projects and employment opportunities, instead of to the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, which promotes dependency. (Photo: CBCP News)

In its place, Manalang suggested that the government should find ways to create livelihood programs and employment opportunities for the poor.

He explained, “Actually, it [CCT] offends human dignity. What our leaders should consider doing with the money is to make more jobs, not in doling out cash whose objective is consumption but still unsustainable.”

He stressed that the government should closely monitor the auditing of the multi-billion-peso CCT, and keep a list detailing its supposed beneficiaries.

“The money must be audited to know how it was spent given the billions of pesos at stake here,” added Manalang.

Meanwhile, Fr. Edwin Mercado of Pondo ng Pinoy is convinced that the CCT program is bound to fail because it does not involve developmental enterprise and values formation of its recipients.

If there is no forming of values, the priest said, it will only promote a culture of dependency.

The proposal to strike the P64.7 billion CCT from the 2015 national budget was first suggested by House Minority leader Ronaldo Zamora.

The solon said the CCT failed to improve the lot of 19.7% of Filipinos. (Raymond A. Sebastián)