ARMM to prioritize poverty alleviation programs
By Noel Y. Punzalan
COTABATO CITY, Jan. 11 (PNA) -- The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) would primarily pursue and utilize the PHP 4 billion allotment it had for poverty alleviation programs in the region for 2017.
The poverty reduction fund forms part of the PHP 32 billion budget that Congress approved for ARMM this year.
“There should be equitable implementation of the anti-poverty programs,†ARMM Governor Mujiv Hataman stressed before newsmen here during a press conference on Wednesday.
In retrospect, Hataman said during the deliberation on the proposed PHP40.573 billion 2017 ARMM budget last year, it was mentioned that the region, which is home to 3.2 million people, remains the poorest region in the country with 53.1 percent poverty incidence.
The ARMM comprises the provinces of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.
Over the past three years, the ARMM’s main focus was on its infrastructure programs on efforts to rehabilitate old roads, bridges, government buildings and also building new and better ones.
However, the governor said that for 2017, efforts would shift to poverty alleviation, as it would require a long-term approach pursuing the basic needs of food, clothing, shelter, light, water and sanitation.
In 2015, the ARMM got the biggest slice of the budget for the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) program, a government anti- poverty grant, with PHP 6.02 billion and PHP 5.84 billion for 2015 and 2016, respectively, for a total of PHP 11.86 billion.
Under the 4Ps, two types of cash grants are extended, namely, a health grant of PHP500 per family per month, or a total of PHP6,000 every year, and an education grant of PHP300 per child each month and where a household may register a maximum of three children.
Hataman said he is also carefully monitoring the 4Ps implementation in the region due to alleged “anomalies†hounding it.
“We, at the ARMM government would just like to ensure that the money provided for each poor family in the region is exact and given to the right beneficiary,†the governor said.
Hataman said the 4Ps is a program of the national government and that ARMM is merely an implementing agency. (PNA)
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