GENERAL SANTOS CITY — A total of 6,370 poor households here have received PHP15.2 million in cash subsidies under the national government’s unconditional cash transfer (UCT) program.
Zorahayda Taha, DSWD-12 regional director, said Wednesday the agency has already completed the release of the subsidies to the beneficiaries, in coordination with the city government and the Land Bank of the Philippines.
Taha said each beneficiary received PHP2,400 in cash subsidy as provided for under the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Law.
The national government launched the subsidy program to assist poor households to cope with the implementation of the TRAIN Law.
The beneficiaries will receive monthly subsidies in the next three years, starting with PHP200 or a total of PHP2,400 for 2018, and PHP300 or PHP3,600 annually for 2019 and 2020.
Taha said they processed the release of the subsidy after completing the notification and registration of the beneficiaries here.
The final list of UCT beneficiaries was based on the validation conducted by the agency on the area’s “Listahanan” or the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction database.
“Listahanan” is an information management system adopted by DSWD to properly document poor households nationwide.
DSWD-12 also released earlier this month the UCT subsidies of 1,125 households in Tantangan town in South Cotabato.
Taha said the agency’s National Household Targeting Unit and the newly-created UCT-Regional Project Management Office are currently training the UCT “notifiers” that will be assigned in other areas in the region.
The agency earlier identified a total of 146,264 households in Region 12 as eligible for the UCT subsidy.
North Cotabato topped the list with 57,374 households, followed by Sultan Kudarat with 32,578, South Cotabato with 29,562, Sarangani with 20,608, and Cotabato City with 6,142.
“We’re targeting to release all the subsidies before the end of the year,” Taha added. (PNA)
