DSWD launches payout of UCT grant to social pension beneficiaries

• Source: http://pia.gov.ph/news/articles/1009083
• Saturday, June 16, 2018

(DSWD)

QUEZON CITY -- Some 733 beneficiaries of the Social Pension Program for Indigent Senior Citizens (SPISC) of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in the City of San Fernando, Pampanga will receive today their Unconditional Cash Transfer (UCT) grant for the year amounting to P2,400.

This was announced by DSWD Acting Secretary Virginia Orogo as the Department launches today the pilot payout of the UCT grant to its SPISC beneficiaries.

“For our pilot payout activity, we will be providing the UCT grant of our Social Pension beneficiaries in San Fernando City. In Region III, a total of 95,304 SPISC beneficiaries will be receiving their UCT subsidy in the coming weeks,” Sec. Orogo said.

According to the welfare chief, DSWD Field Offices in other regions are already preparing the payroll documents for the provision of the subsidy to social pension beneficiaries in their respective regions.

“The payout activity in the regions will be scheduled as soon as we finish the payroll generation of our beneficiaries and after the Land Bank of the Philippines approves our payroll submissions,” Sec. Orogo added.

Overall, some 3 million seniors are expected to receive their UCT grants.

UCT is the tax subsidy provided for under the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law to help the poor cushion the adverse economic impact of the law for three years, starting 2018. For this year, beneficiaries will receive P200 per month or P2,400 for one year. In 2019 and 2020, the subsidy will increase to P300 or P3,600 a year.

Aside from the 3 million social pensioners, UCT beneficiaries also include the 4.4 million household-beneficiaries of the DSWD’s Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) and the 2.6 million poor households listed under the DSWD National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction or Listahanan.

SPISC is the government’s assistance for poor seniors in the amount of P500 per month to help augment their daily subsistence, including their medical needs. Beneficiaries include indigent seniors who are frail, sickly or with a disability; with no regular income or support from family and relatives; and without pension from private or government institutions.

The Department has earlier started providing the UCT grant to its 4Ps beneficiaries. As of June 14, a total of 4,164,036 Pantawid beneficiary accounts have been uploaded with their UCT grants.

“We are currently validating the 2.7 million poor households from the Listahanan database to get the 2.6 million target beneficiaries for UCT. As of June 12, a total of 2,564,561 households or 93.5 percent of the total have been validated, while 2,466,777 million or 89 percent have been encoded,” Sec. Orogo explained.

“We are targeting to finish the registration by July and to conduct the UCT payout for the Listahanan households in August and September,” she ended.