DAVAO CITY–The Department of Social Welfare and Development in Region 11 (DSWD) on Wednesday released the Unconditional Cash Transfer (UCT) cash grants to the first 1,331 senior citizen-beneficiaries from five barangays of this city.
Eighty-one-year-old Fidela Plasabas, who could hardly walk, was one of the first to make a bee line for the assistance at SM Davao Annex, released through the Land Bank of the Philippines.
One of the DSWD personnel processing the documents even had to guide her in getting the thumb mark.
All Plasabas could say is that she was happy of the additional assistance. Plasabas, a resident of Barangay Gov. Vicente Duterte, belongs to the first batch of DSWD Social Pension Program for Indigent Senior Citizens pensioners.
Plasabas and all other beneficiaries of the UCT cash grants will be receiving the lump sum amount of PHP2,400 for the whole year.
Arris Medrano, the focal person for Older Person Centenarian UCT-Tax Reform Cash Transfer (TRCT), said the first batch of pensioners were from barangays Centro with 381 pensioners, Gov. Vicente Duterte (241), Lapu-Lapu (302), San Antonio (274), and Ubalde (132), all of Agdao District.
The total amount released for the five villages amounted to PHP3.192 million.
Medrano said there are 250,200 DSWD pensioners in Davao Region who will receive the UCT-TRCT cash grants amounting to PHP576.907 million.
In an interview on the sidelines of the launching program on Wednesday, Ma. Vilia Vigil, the Assistant Regional Director of DSWD 11, said UCT-TRCT is a top-up program, which provides a cash grant of PHP200 per month for the first year of the implementation; and PHP300 per month for 2019 and 2020 that will be distributed once a year.
Vigil said the UCT program is launched to help the poor Filipinos cope with the effects of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law. It is a form of tax subsidy under the TRAIN law that seeks to provide cash subsidies to 10 million households and individuals in the country.
Of the 10 million, 4.4 million are members of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps); 2.6 million are social pension senior citizen beneficiaries, and the remaining 3 million will be coming from the DSWD’s Listahanan.
In Davao Region, Davao City has the most number of qualified pensioners for the UCT with 58,670 followed by Compostela Valley (45,478), Davao Oriental (42,810), Davao del Norte (47,834), Davao del Sur (36,842), and Davao Occidental (18,566).
Under the 4Ps program, Davao Region has 263,088 members. Of the total number, Davao City has 33,418 followed by Compostela Valley with 63,115, Davao del Norte (58,975), Davao del Sur (31,037), Davao Occidental (35,251), and Davao Oriental (41,292).
“It is our joy to have been channels of the Duterte administration’s firm commitment to promote the welfare of the Filipino people. This cash grant will truly be of great help to the poor and disadvantaged sectors of our society especially to our indigent senior citizens,” Vigil said. (Lilian C. Mellejor/PNA)
