LEFTIST groups on Sunday demanded the resignation of Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman for her “fake concern” for the poor and the misuse of the conditional cash transfer (CCT) program to hide street children and their families from Pope Francis during his five-day visit here.
Gabriela Rep. Emmi de Jesus demanded that Soliman account for the CCT funds that she used to hide some 100 poor families at the Chateau Royale luxury resort in Batangas during the Pope’s visit this month and the Island Cove resort in Cavite during US President Barack Obama’s State visit in 2013.
De Jesus said Gabriela has asked the Commission on Audit to strictly check where Soliman got the funds and how these were spent.
“If the funds used to hide the hapless street children and their families indeed came from the CCT, then that’s so anomalous,” De Jesus said over radio dzBB.
“Whatever Dinky [Soliman] calls them–outing, camping or training–she cannot hide the fact that these activities take place during big international events and that the result is that, for a few days, the poor vanish,” added Renato Reyes Jr., secretary general of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan.
“Last year we exposed such activities in Island Cove in Cavite. This year it was held in Chateau Royale in Batangas,” Reyes said.
Reyes said the Department of Social Welfare and Development should come clean as early as now and explain if such activities will be repeated during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit.
“How many are they planning to round up in November? The cost of billeting [the poor families] could have been spent on providing livelihood and shelter. But alas, folks are merely returned to the streets once the international event is concluded,” Reyes said.
He said the Aquino regime has low regard and merely shows fake concern for the poor.
“It takes a cosmetic approach to addressing poverty,” Reyes said.
De Jesus said most of the complaints Gabriela received were the anomalous practices involving the CCT program.
“There were times that CCT funds get delayed by four months and when these were released, the recipients would only receive [cash] good for one month,” De Jesus said.
She said some of the recipients were also not deserving and did not belong to the “poorest of the poor.”
“We demand an audit of the Chateau Royale fiasco. A special audit should be made on how Soliman disbursed the CCT funds during the round up operations of the DSWD,” De Jesus said.
Soliman said the Chateau event merely coincided with the papal visit and that the street families were not forced to go.
“That’s preposterous,” De Jesus shot back, saying the more excuses Soliman gave, the more she was trapped in the web of her lies.
De Jesus said Gabriela backs the resolution filed by Kabataan Rep. Terry Ridon calling for a probe on Soliman’s maltreatment of the street children.
She also said she would deliver a privilege speech on the issue Monday.
“We demand that Soliman resign and be made accountable for the misuse of CCT funds,” De Jesus said.
Urban poor groups also slammed Soliman Sunday.
“Is Soliman ashamed of DSWD’s inability to address poverty through the CCT that she hid the street families from the Pope?” asked Val Jayson Dimayuga, a spokesman for Kalipunan ng Damayan Mahihirap (Kadamay).
Kadamay, along with Salinlahi Philippines (Alliance for Children’s Concern), is expected to stage a protest today in front of the DSWD office in Batasan Hills, Quezon City at 10 a.m.
“We will call for Soliman’s resignation,” Dimayuga told the Manila Standard.
He said Soliman lied by saying the five-day family camp workshop had nothing to do with Pope’s visit.
The answer to poverty is to create more job opportunities and increase wages, and not just to implement CCT, he said.
“The government has spent billions of pesos for CCT. Why not allocate the money to create jobs and increase wages?” he asked.
The DSWD has even failed to address the high incidence of poverty in the vicinity of Batasan Hills in District 2, where Soliman holds office, he sad.
“We will demand an apology from her for lying. She must heed the Pope’s message that public officials should have honesty, dignity and commitment to common good,” he said.
Another group, Kongreso ng Pagkakaisa ng Maralitang Lungsod (KPML), also criticized DSWD, saying its explanation for sending the families to Batangas was a lie that even the uneducated and apolitical could see through.
“The government’s dole programs are band-aid solutions attempting to fill the centuries-old craters carved by severe and systemic inequality and economic disempowerment for the very reason that the government is also the perpetuator of such horrid crimes against the poor,” KPML leader Orly Gallano for Metro Manila said in a statement.
Soliman said the out-of-town workshop of the street dwellers has been a regular activity of DSWD under the modified conditional cash transfer. She added that the poor families were moved from Roxas Boulevard to protect them from the crowds who turned up to greet the Pope.