It is a sad commentary of our times that propeople programs and projects which would normally be welcomed and endorsed by even the most virulent critics of a sitting administration are severely criticized and subjected to so much abuse even before they see the light of day.

The atmosphere has been so poisoned that informed and civilized debate has been overtaken by unwarranted carping and malicious insinuations, to the point that it has become almost impossible to provide much-needed assistance and relief to the most disadvantaged sectors in these trying times.

Even the relief-and-rehabilitation efforts of both the public and private sectors in the most recent disaster which visited the country, Typhoon Frank, and the attendant sinking of the MV Princess of the Stars, have been the object of all kinds of carping and politicking, which has poisoned the already toxic environment even more.

This has to stop before it boils over to a kind of paralysis which may lead to even bigger problems. And, perhaps more important, before the people’s trust in our institutions, public or private, is eroded beyond repair, and the country loses the kind of unity needed to face the enveloping global economic and political crises. Let the needless carping spare the more critical programs meant, precisely, to meet the most basic threats facing the most marginalized sectors of our society.

The case of the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s Ahon: Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino” program, the local equivalent of successful conditional cash transfer programs in other developing countries, is one such program. The program launched nationwide this year after at least two years of modeling in select areas in the country is considered a modest investment in human-capital formation, and aims to reach 300,000 of the country’s poorest households by granting money to these households on the condition they bring their children to health centers on a regular basis and send them to school.

The first package called the Health and Nutrition Cash Assistance (HNCA) provides a household P6,000 a year or P500 a month for 12 months. The second package called the Educational Cash Assistance grants P3,000 a year or P300 a month for each child for 10 months up to a maximum of three children for each household.

So far, based on available statistics, these two packages have been considered a success with, and this needs to be highlighted, no whiff of corruption or reported irregularity, thanks in large measure to the iron-willed leadership of Social Welfare Secretary Esperanza Cabral and, of course, the corps of professionals at the agency.

But that was not the way things were going at the program’s inception, especially during the hearings on its budget last year.

All kinds of innuendoes and useless badgering on its possible misuse were heard from the critics. Perhaps because of lingering questions on the fertilizer scam and other such huge fund transfers, there was even loose talk of it becoming a mere political workout undeserving of support.

Well, even the World Bank now says such conditional cash-transfer programs bear watching as there has been increasing evidence that such transfers “could help reach the very poor and, where growth is weak, have a direct impact on poverty.”

The bank, for example, notes that the Bangladesh Cash-for-Education Program, which is equivalent to the DSWD’s effort, and its continuing food-for-education program has “resulted in 20-percent to 30-percent increase in school enrollment among beneficiaries who are likely to stay in school up to two years longer than other children.”

Similarly, the Red de Proteccion program in Nicaragua has brought about a 23-percent increase in school attendance. In the Oportunidades program in Mexico, which is similar to the DSWD’s HNCA plan, 70 percent of the household participants have shown remarkable improvement in their nutritional conditions, while in Nicaragua, where the cash transfer was conditional on attending clinics for vaccinations and immunization for growing children, there has been an increase of at least 18 percent.

As Bert Hofman himself noted, the bank has been pleased with such programs that it is “waiting for the various governments to tap into the bank’s rapid financing facility to address the urgent needs of people with the rising prices of food and electricity.”

Hofman’s observation may have prodded President Arroyo to cluster all existing social-development, or should we say, rapid-action programs—meant to address the urgent problems of an increasing number of our people as a result of the unabated increases in food and oil prices—into a national effort under the care of newly appointed Social Security System (SSS) president and CEO Romulo Neri.

Why the SSS and why Neri will remain unfathomable objects of scrutiny from hereon as has been the case since the appointment was made. While many may have their own thoughts on the matter and, of course, the critics will remain as unsatisfied as ever, we are ready to give this experiment a try on two conditions: a) no SSS money will be expended to bolster, augment or even parlay any of the program expenses, except those which may be directly targeted to SSS members; and b) the programs now in place in the various agencies will be properly scrutinized and audited to ensure that those which may no longer be necessary or have proven to be wasteful be set aside and replaced by other more focused and working initiatives.

If Neri himself, as chairman of this newly created cluster, comes around with a consolidated program which bears the endorsement of people like Secretary Cabral and her colleagues, then that will, at least, give this initiative the kind of seal which may allow it to be given the light of day. That will probably also stop the useless carping from the usual suspects, whose best efforts at stalling any and all kinds of coping programs at this time will be decimated or even dismissed at the earliest opportunity as the program unfolds to the approval of the intended beneficiaries.

As we have always been saying, given the kind of global crisis in all fronts now confronting us, the usual solutions and prescriptions may no longer suffice. There is room for thinking out of the box, so to speak, and for people like Neri and the others before him who may have been demonized, misunderstood or whose good intentions may have been misplaced to regain their self-respect and do the kind of good deeds they may have always wanted but never been allowed to do for reasons beyond their control. That is a big IF, but there is no harm, especially as we enter an uncharted territory in such pace and scope as we are now experiencing.

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It is a sad commentary of our times that propeople programs and projects which would normally be welcomed and endorsed by even the most virulent critics of a sitting administration are severely criticized and subjected to so much abuse even before they see the light of day.

I believe this is the best time for me to thank Chairman Bayani Fernando of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) for the invaluable assistance they have given to the city and people of Iloilo after the devastating Typhoon Frank hit us.