Arroyo Administration Cash Dole-out Program Explained

One of the major headlines in today’s Inquirer is how President Arroyo increased the budget of the “Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino” Program by P5 Billion. This program is a direct cash-aid project that aims to subsidize the living costs of really poor families all around the country. A lot of people are accusing this of plain and simple dole-outs, something which the government has denied. I did some research on the program and I believe that while their initial intentions were good, it still has a lot of room for improvement. At the onset, the program looks like it just gives fish and never teaches people how to catch fish. Will this really help solve the poverty problem long-term?

Program Objectives
According to the program brief in the DSWD website, this project is hoping to provide social assistance (short term povery alleviation via cash assistance) and social development. For the second goal, it’s described as a way to break the inter-generational poverty cycle through investments in human capital.

I dug deeper and checked how the program works. Basically the DSWD selects the poorest families around the country and they can be qualified for the cash assistance if they go through parenting seminars and health check-ups. If you qualify, you get the following:

If you think about it, this amount of money will really go a long way in helping our less fortunate kababayans. However, I’m really worried about how this can actually break the “inter-generational poverty cycle” which is stipulated in the second objective of the program.

Does it really work?
If you will analyze this, the cash should only be the carrot at the end of the stick. It should only be an incentive so that you can properly train, educate, and reform the mindsets of the participants of the program. The most crucial part here is the seminar requirements. What topics are being discussed? Is there a module on financial management? Is there a segment that talks about entrepreneurship? Do we have skills training?

Families should not rely on the cash assistance and the government should make it a point to let them know that.

To improve this program, we should really study how effective the seminar part is. Also, DSWD should consider partnering with TESDA, GO NEGOSYO, or other skill-development agencies so that we open up more livelihood opportunities for the families. The cash assistance can give leeway for the parents so that they can focus on building a future for their family through business or employment.

Hopefully the success of the program will be measured after 5 years. Out of more than 500,000 families that were enrolled, how many were able to actually break the poverty cycle? How many of them were able to have better lives?

It’s a good effort, but hopefully DSWD can fine tune it some more so that it can really have a long term impact.

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