A culture of entitlement
That is the end in view with the conditional cash transfer program or the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps). So holds House Minority Leader Ronnie Zamora, as he called instead for “investing in strategic industries making sure there are enough jobs.”
With the caveat: “You’re not going to be able to do that if you’re providing temporary relief for more and more families.”
Zamora warned government that the CCT “fosters not just a culture of dependence on government but also a culture of entitlement.”
“(The beneficiaries) see that even if they don’t work, so long as they keep their kids in school, they can just wait for government aid,” he said.
Agreeing with Zamora is Gabriela Women’s party-list Rep. Emmi de Jesus, saying the CCT “destroys the dignity of labor instead of being the relief that it is touted to be.”
The observations of Zamora and De Jesus have been long impacted on the CCT, in a variety of words, in myriad phrases all arguing for its abolition, the funds re-directed to programs truly beneficial – and long-lasting – to the greater masses of the Filipino people.
Even at its inception, the program – under a nomenclature other than the generic CCT – had drawn criticisms from practically all but the intended recipients.
It was still the heyday of GMA – the progenitor of the CCT – when we wrote here:
WITH THE government program that gives up to P1,400 monthly stipend to a family living below the poverty line, a new take on the old Chinese “fish talk” comes into being.
Government does not feed that family for only a day, it makes it cling to government for its meal for a lifetime.
This is a perpetuation of patronage politics that has bedevilled Philippine governance from its feudal past to its so-called democratic present.
That is promoting, nay, further enhancing our culture of mendicancy.
That is propagating indolence, inertia and indigence.
Ahon Pamilyang Pinoy, the name of the dole-out program will effect the very opposite of its intent – instead of uplifting the life of the poor, it will submerge them into greater indignity, overdependence and despondence. Lubog Pamilyang Pinoy will make a most appropriate name.
To the point, and so rightly, is Caritas Manila in saying that the dole will only make the poor dependent on government.
“It is anti-poor, gives the poor no dignity, and only breeds dependency.” So said Fr. Anton Pascual, executive director of Caritas Manila.
The P5-billion allocation of the national government to fund monthly stipend for each of the country’s poorest of the poor can better serve the poor by funding livelihood and income-generating projects where they can be gainfully employed.
“The government should instead employ the poor as street sweepers, canal sanitizers and garbage collectors to teach them the value of work,” Pascual suggested.
The government can partner with non-governmental organizations, small cooperatives, and social institutions in the programming of projects – from the old self-employment assistance and small-loan packages, to more innovative income-generating activities – for the poor.
That is going by the pro-actively positive “teach him how to fish, and feed him for a lifetime” part of the old Chinese saying. It goes well too with the Christian value that labor ennobles the man.
Trabaho, hindi limos ang sagot sa kahirapan. Trabaho, hindi limos ang aangat sa karangalan ng pinaka-hikahos man sa mga mamamayan.
As it was then, so it is now. Government too impoverish in thought as to think of a truly alleviating, much less empowering, anti-poverty program.
Shame.
q q q
SO AS it was with the Ahon Pamilyang Pinoy so it is now with the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program.
The viciousness of the cycle of patronage and dependency, poverty and indolence, corruption and mendicancy spiralling without end.
