MANILA – Conditional and unconditional cash transfers from the government will reach more than P150 billion next year, House majority leader Rolando Andaya said.
In a statement, Camarines Sur 1st District representative Andaya said the proposed budget for four cash transfer programs will reach up to P152.8 billion for 2019.
This include the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, at P88.1 billion, which grants monthly stipends to indigent families provided that the children attend school and get health check-ups regularly.
This amount also includes the P37.6-billion Unconditional Cash Transfer, a monthly assistance set to increase to P300 next year from the current P200 to cover the price increases brought about by the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Law.
Also part of this amount is the P23.2-billion Social Pensions for Indigent Senior Citizens, which grants a yearly P6,000 aid to indigent 60-year-olds and above who do not receive pension from the Government Service Insurance System or the Social Security System.
The remaining amount goes to the Pantawid Pasada Program for PUV drivers, at P3.9 billion, which aims to help drivers whose operating costs have risen due to oil price hikes.
“If we will compute other ‘entitlement programs’ that will provide subsidy to certain sectors, which will not be coursed directly to them, but which they will benefit from, the total funding could reach double that amount,” Andaya said.
He added that the despite the high costs, “it is justified because this is retail spending which improves public welfare.”
“If we give fiscal incentives and tax holidays to the rich, and call these foregone revenues a necessary expense, then how can subsidies that will help the poor, and fund their growth, be deemed unproductive?” Andaya said.
Aside from these, other social protection expenditures for 2019, Andaya said, include the P67.4 billion that government will pay PhilHealth for the insurance coverage of poor households and seniors, as well as the P3.5 billion for the DSWD’s feeding program for almost 1.9 million children.
Government cash transfer programs increase social protection for poor households, calamity victims, homeless families and others affected by economic shock. (ABS-CBN News)
