The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has so far liquidated over P3.2 billion of the P3.7 billion funds from the so-called conditional cash transfer program (CCT) which the Commission on Audit (CoA) claimed to have been disbursed illegally.
Undersecretary Mateo Montano, who supervises the implementation of CCT, said the expeditious liquidation is in connection with the department’s promise to fully liquidate the amount on or before Sept. 30, 2012.      
“Yes, as of Sept. 18, 2012, the unliquidated balance is already reduced to P490 million from the P3.7 billion of Dec. 31, 2011. By Sept. 30, we will have already substantially liquidated the Landbank account or zero out the said amount,” Montano explained to The Daily Tribune.
Earlier, Montano had said more than P2 billion of the amount had been liquidated as of July 2012.


Despite being dragged tothe spotlight, Montano never accused CoA chairperson Grace Pulido Tan of being careless in revealing alleged irregularities.
He said it was not the CoA’s fault that DSWD was accused of having huge unliquidated funds but Landbank itself has no up-to-date system of reporting agencies that have liquidations to make.
“CoA is not careless, it’s the agency that it relies (on) which is not having the needed database,” the official explained.
The CCT is a government income augmentation program that targets poorest of the poor in the society.
It allocates P1,400 monthly alms to poor families with at least three children on condition that the children go to school 85 percent of their time; the mothers have pre- and post-natal care; and the latter visit health center at least once a month.           
For 2013, an additional 700,000 families are entitled to enrolment in the program, thus bringing the total number of beneficiaries to three million.
By 2016, the CCT aims to help at least 5.2 million family-beneficiaries.  
The DSWD was one of the two agencies exposed by the CoA for having enormous amounts disbursed without proper liquidation.
Aside from the DSWD, the Bureau of Customs (BoC) allegedly also has the same problem. No word has been heard from  BoC.
Last Sept. 20, the House of Representatives swiftly approved the P55.9-billion proposed budget of the DSWD, including P44.2 billion for the CCT program for next year.
The swift approval of the proposed budget by the House plenary was made in record time as no opposition was manifested, not even tothe increased budget for the CCT program which constitutes 80 percent of the entire department budget.
The P44.2-billion budget for the CCT program for 2013 is P4.8 billion higher than this year’s P39.45 billion, constituting a 12-percent increase.
The CCT is the centerpiece poverty-alleviation program of the administration of President Benigno Aquino III.
According to DSWD records, about 3.1 million households are currently enrolled in the program.
The increased allocation would cover the requirements needed to enroll an additional 700,000 households into the program next year.
The program involves the distribution of cash subsidies to qualified poor families amounting to a maximum of P1,400 a month subject to the compliance with certain conditions.
The other conditions allowing beneficiaries to receive the subsidy include parents of qualified households ensuring that their children attend school; children zero to five years old getting regular check-ups and vaccinations; parents attending responsible parenthood sessions; and pregnant women getting pre-and post-natal care and being attended to during childbirth by a trained birth attendant.
The beneficiaries are identified through the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction.