Cordillera Administrative Region- A total of 66,080 pensioners under the Social Pension Program for Indigent Senior Citizens of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) are targeted to receive their Unconditional Cash Transfer (UCT) stipend this July.
The stipend amounts to PhP 200.00 per month but will be released once through over the counter modality.
“Our pensioners will be receiving a total of PhP 2,400 for their UCT stipend this year. Over the counter pay-out will be done through the Land Bank of the Philippines”, DSWD-CAR OIC-Regional Director Janet P. Armas said.
A total of PhP 158,592,000 has been allotted to cover the assistance to the social pensioners.
Of the 66,080 pensioners, Abra Province has the highest number of target beneficiaries with 15,600 followed by Benguet Province with 12, 843, Ifugao Province with 11,289, Kalinga Province with 10,677 and Apayao Province with 7,571. Meanwhile, target beneficiaries from Mountain Province is 7,142 and Baguio City is 958. This is out of the 85,048 social pensioners in the region.
“As much as we want to accommodate all our Social Pensioners in the UCT, we regret that only around 77% of them will receive the UCT stipend. Those who will receive the assistance are those born before 5 June 1954. This scheme was implemented to ensure that older pensioners will receive the assistance due to limited funds”, Armas added.
Meanwhile, additional beneficiaries of the UCT are yet to be identified through the validation of Listahanan-listed poor households. After the validation, the NHTS will run a Proxy Means Test to identify those who will be receiving the cash transfer.
As of 3 July 2018, the accomplishment rate of the validation is at 99.82% or 31,336 out of 31,392 households have already been validated.
On the other hand, as of May 2018 around 54,753 Pantawid Pamilya households have already received the UCT stipend. of this number, 6,442 are from Abra Province, 7,604 from Apayao Province, 3,094 from Baguio City, 11,423 from Benguet Province, 8,619 from Ifugao Province, 11,141 from Kalinga Province and 6,430 from Mountain Province.
Queries and additional information on the UCT can be directed to the DSWD-CAR Office at #40 North Drive, Baguio City through (074) 446-59-61 or through its social media accounts at www.facebook.com/dswdfocar or Twitter account @dswdfocar.
The Unconditional Cash Transfer, lodged under the DSWD, is a provision of the Tax Reform Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Law that aims to alleviate the additional cost of living brought about by the increase in amount of common commodities. Under the law, Social Pensioners, Pantawid Pamilya, and Listahanan-identified poor households are entitled to receive the assistance.
Nerizza Faye G. Villanueva
