KIDAPAWAN CITY (MindaNews / 27 Sept) – Some 8,000 poor families in different areas in Southwest Mindanao (Region 12) would be added as beneficiaries to the modified conditional cash transfer (CCT) of the national government.
Julieta Clavel, regional coordinator of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), said that under the modified CCT, they target as beneficiaries the families of street children, child laborers, abused children and women, or those in difficult circumstances that need special protection.
Also, it targets migrant families of the indigenous peoples (IPs), families with children with disabilities, and families displaced by natural and man-made calamities.
Clavel explained that the program hopes to help families and children in difficult circumstances overcome their situation.
“But there are conditions set,” she stressed. The children beneficiaries are required to attend classes, and their mothers should pay a regular visit to health centers, added Clavel.
The program is reportedly still in the pre-implementation phase, “meaning, the agency is still in the process of identifying the would-be beneficiaries,” with help from civil society organizations and the local government units (LGUs).
The program starts on the last quarter of 2012, Clavel said.
“The national government has already allotted funds for that… from the last quarter of 2012 until next year,” she stressed.
Meantime, there would be additional 13,927 beneficiaries for the regular CCT in Region 12 in 2013, according to Clavel.
“The full blast release of the cash grants for the additional beneficiaries would be next year.
We already have funds for that,” she said.
Clavel was jubilant when she was informed that Congress has already approved the budget for the CCT in 2013.
“This means that we are certain the program would continue until next year,” she said. (Malu Cadeliña Manar / MindaNews)
