Jose Ma. A. Concepcion III, President Duterte’s adviser on entrepreneurship, has asked some of the country’s big business groups to help him formulate a scheme that will convince the government to re-channel a big chunk of the Conditional Cash-Transfer (CCT) Program to initiatives that will boost micro-entrepreneurship.
Concepcion said the CCT, which got a budget of P78.2 billion this year for distribution to some 4.4 million poor households, will unlock the solution to two of the biggest problems of microenterprises in obtaining financing—interest rate and collateral.
“More than interest rate, my concern is collateral. Most micro and small entrepreneurs (MSEs) don’t have collateral as pledge to borrow money. The government has to find a way to make it collateral-free,” Concepcion said at the launch of the Alliance Towards Prosperity for All campaign. “That’s where the issue of CCT comes in.”
He said CCT, in a way, “helps the poorest of the poor by giving them checks every month. But maybe we’re not measuring the impact if we slowly shift some of that money to MSEs; gradually let’s shift it to poor entrepreneurs.”
Concepcion said, through the Alliance Towards Prosperity for All, the biggest Philippine business groups will not just help in convincing the Duterte administration to effect the transfer of CCT funds to entrepreneurship programs, they will also get to chip in their resources and expertise to make the initiative work under the “Mentorship, Money and Market” program of GoNegosyo.
“The Alliance here will consolidate all the ideas. Once we have consensus, we will work with the government to submit our ideas in the area of mentorship, money and market. We all have to agree [in the alliance], and we will share this to the government and convince them to agree,” Concepcion said.
This, he said, will transform the dole-out system into a program that encourages self-sufficiency.
The CCT scheme was started in the Arroyo administration. In 2016 the Aquino administration budgeted P64 billion for the program.
While details are scarce, Con-cepcion said it’s possible funds may be rechanneled to the Department of Trade and Industry’s Pondo sa Pagbabago at Pag-asenso Program. Some of the funds may also be given to the Department of Agriculture for farmers’ cooperatives.
“Structurally, how to do it, we still have to discuss it; but let’s help those who help themselves,” Concepcion stressed.
The official said only a chunk of the CCT could be given, not the entire amount.
The Alliance Towards Prosperity for All campaign is supported by the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Management Association of the Philippines, Makati Business Club and Financial Executives of the Philippine, among others.
The Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, now the formal name of CCT, is a human-development measure of the national government that provides conditional cash grants to the poorest, specifically targeting indigent households with pregnant women and children aged 0-14.