LAOAG CITY — Some 48,999 households from Region 1 will be the beneficiaries of Unconditional Cash Transfer (UCT), a new program of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) that will be implemented for three years starting next month.
The UCT refers to the social welfare benefit under the national government’s Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law, or the Republic Act 10963, which provides cash assistance to indigent Filipinos amounting to PHP200 per month in 2018; and PHP300 per month in 2019 and 2020.
Following a field validation, the DSWD Region 1 has identified the 48,999 beneficiaries. Most of them are located in the province of Pangasinan with a total of 35,309; La Union, 5,984; Ilocos Sur, 3,954 and Ilocos Norte, 3,752.
Report from the National Household Targeting Section (NHTS), Regional Information Technology Officer Aristedeo V. Tinol said there were 68,480 poor households from the 76,103 targeted poor households that were validated in the UCT database.
Some 7,623 households, however, were not validated because some existing beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program cannot be located, the housing units of the households are vacant during the validation activity, some do not have qualified respondent or refused to be interviewed, while others have relocated to other region.
“All the funds for UCT grants are lodged with the Land Bank of the Philippines,” said DSWD-Region 1 Director Marcelo Nicomedes J. Castillo,
She said prior to the implementation of the UCT payout, DSWD officials met with the Land Bank managers regarding the different payment methods available and suitable for all the UCT beneficiaries under the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, Social Pension Program, and Listahanan. (Leilanie Adriano/PNA)
