Cotabato City - Regional Vice-Governor and Concurrent DSWD-ARMM Secretary
Hadja Bainon G. Karon, said politicians should not use the Philippines’ Conditional
Cash Transfer (CCT) program or commonly known as “Pantawid Pamilya” for their political
advancement.
This was the pronouncement of Sec. Karon during the recent
regional pilot campaign on Anti-Epal or “BAWAL ANG EPAL DITO” with the
objective to protect the dignity of the program and ensure rights of the
beneficiaries due for them.
Karon has reiterated
once more that only the DSWD can delist beneficiaries from the program if they
have not complied with the set conditions or in any case they had committed any
violations.
In accordance to the preventive measure approach of the
department, DSWD National Secretary Corazon Juliano Soliman issued a memorandum
sometime in September 2012 to advise DSWD employees not to participate or be
used in any political propaganda. It was stated in said memo by the Secretary that
if anyone from DSWD caught using the program in favor of a politician will be
immediately suspended, where a fact finding will soon to follow.
In this regard, Sec.
Karon emphasized that in case her office would receive complaints from anyone where
it describes the circumstance and identified names of DSWD personnel from
municipal links up to the regional office personnel engaging in partisan
politics using the program will get suspended right away before the start of
investigation.
Further, Sec. Karon
admitted the efforts of the agency to protect Pantawid Pamilya from political
interests. In this regard, Sec. Karon stressed that if the agency is going to
have an event, there should be no tarps with the politician’s faces and also
from the part of DSWD.
More so, Sec. Karon
emphasized that DSWD-ARMM is communicating the message clearly: “Pantawid
Pamilya” is not a campaign vehicle for political advancement.
On “Bawal ang EPAL dito” Campaign…
DSWD-ARMM is currently
rolling out a media campaign to inform the public that no local politician has
the authority to add or delist CCT beneficiaries called “Bawal ang EPAL dito”
campaign.
Since
the May 2013 national and local elections are fast approaching, the department
is worried that some politicians may take advantage of the Pantawid Pamilya
program to gain leverage. In anticipation of such incidents, DSWD-ARMM is ready
to receive reports, feedbacks, and messages about politicians or candidates who
may claim to have the authority to enlist and delist household beneficiaries
from the program. Complainants can avail of the department’s Grievance Redness
System by simply sending a text with their “name/area/complaint” to 0918-9122813.
"DSWD-ARMM will
prepare and distribute advocacy materials that will indicate nobody can remove
or add to the list of Pantawid Pamilya beneficiaries since it’s a national
program,” said Sec. Karon.
Further, Sec. Karon
mentioned that Family Development Sessions (FDS) inculcate in beneficiaries the
values of active citizenship, including their rights and responsibilities. She
said they address very important challenges for poor people, and that they
understand the power they have and using that power to change their situation.
The Pantawid Pamilya
Program implementation in ARMM, currently provides cash grants to more than
300,000 households. Enrolled families get a monthly cash grant of P500 to cover
healthcare costs while each child below 14 gets P300 for education. As
conditionalities, the beneficiaries are required to send their children to
school, and submit them to regular medical check-ups.
As reflected in the
proposed 2013 national budget which recently passed in the Senate, more than P44
billion has been allotted to the conditional cash transfer program, up from P39
billion in 2012. (GILMHAR A, LAO, Regional Information Officer, Pantawid
Pamilya, DSWD-ARMM with report by Becky D. de Asis/ Judys G. Cogo)
