By DAVID DIZON
abs-cbnNEWS.com

Former Social Welfare Secretary Corazon "Dinky" Soliman on Thursday questioned the wisdom of the government's conditional cash transfer project that will give cash to indigent families in exchange with keeping their children in school.

"If it's supposed to benefit the poor, why are we launching it in Caloocan and Pasay? We should be launching it in Samar or Mindoro or Cagayan Valley, which is where some of the country's poorest families can be found," Soliman said in an abs-cbnNEWS.com interview.

She said that if the government is serious in keeping children in school, it should spend the money in building more schools and hiring more teachers, particularly in far-flung areas in Mindanao.

She also said the choice of Caloocan and Pasay "reeked of political accommodation." She said many Caloocan residents are supportive of Novaliches Bishop Antonio Tobias' criticisms against President Arroyo.

Under the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino program (PPP or P4), indigent families are given P1,400 monthly if they comply with the following conditions: 

- children aged 3-5 years must attend day care program/pre-school, those from 6-14 years old should attend at least 85 percent of school days;

- children should have regular check-ups in health centers for immunization and preventive health care;

- pregnant women should undergo pre-natal check-up starting from the first trimester up until birth; and

- parents/guardians must participate in family planning seminars and other parent effectiveness services.

Social Welfare Secretary Esperanza Cabral earlier said the program is a poverty reduction initiative that enables members of extremely poor households to meet certain human development goals through grants.

She clarified that the program is not a dole out but a developmental program that invests in human capital. "The beneficiaries must meet specific conditions before they can get and continue to get the cash assistance," she said in a statement.

Cabral said Pasay was chosen because it has a community-based monitoring system (CBMS), a household information collection mechanism, while Caloocan has "large pockets of poverty" and decreasing enrolment rate.

Soliman, however, said there is a pervading sense among poor communities in Metro Manila and other parts of the country that the government is not doing enough to solve the problems that afflict the poor, particularly soaring food prices.

"The people now are more angry because they're feeling the pinch. There is a sense that they will accept the dole outs as long as it's being given out, but there has to be a longer lasting solution to all these problems," she said.