By Annabel Consuelo Petinglay/PNA
SAN JOSE DE BUENAVISTA, Antique — The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has resumed its payout for the unconditional cash transfer (UCT) intended for senior citizen-beneficiaries, who have yet to receive their PHP2,400 one-time financial assistance in 2018.
Melrose Amaran of DSWD-Antique, said in an interview Friday that the payout targets 24,998 elderly beneficiaries last year.
It continued this month due to the limited time that was allotted for the release of the financial assistance last year.
Some names of senior citizen beneficiaries also went missing from the DSWD central office payroll, Amaran said.
The towns where the payout had resumed included San Jose de Buenavista last January 8, and Tobias Fornier last January 10.
Other towns scheduled for the payout are San Remigio on January 12, Anini-y on January 15, Hamtic on January 16, Bugasong on January 22, Belison and Patnongon on January 23, Valderrama and Laua-an on January 29, and Sibalom on January 30.
“In Anini-y, there were some missing names of the senior beneficiaries, so we had to make a follow up with DSWD,” she said.
She said that seniors with missing names in Anini-y, however, will receive their financial assistance on January 15.
Amaran though was not able to give the number of seniors unable to receive their cash assistance in 2018.
She said the UCT, in the amount of PHP2,400 or PHP200 per month, is a national government assistance given to indigents in the province aged 64 years and above who had been identified through the National Household Targeting System.
“The UCT is a financial assistance given to indigent elderlies so they could be helped out due to the economic impact of the Tax Reform Acceleration and Inclusion Law,” she said.
She added that for this year, there has been a proposal to increase the financial assistance to PHP3,600.
“For 2019, we have almost similar number of target beneficiaries, which is 24,998,” Amaran said.
