In light of the increase of prices in petroleum products triggered by the reignited hostilities between Iran and the United States, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) will begin the rollout of its cash assistance under the expanded Unified Package for Livelihood, Industry, Food and Transport (UPLIFT) program this week.
In an agency bulletin, social welfare secretary Rexlon ‘Rex’ Gatchalian disclosed that the program covers three groups of beneficiaries—3.5 million households under the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) and the Walang Gutom Program (WGP), 2.5 million poor and near-poor households identified through the Philippine Statistics Authority’s (PSA) Community-Based Monitoring System (CBMS) and 1.5 million low-income Social Security System (SSS) members.
“(Our) President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr. announced the Uplift assistance. This is the pivot or the next stage of our financial assistance for our fellow citizen,” he cited while mentioning the expected impact of the tensions in the Middle East.
Gatchalian detailed that households under 4Ps and WGP will receive a one-time cash aid of ₱2,000 while CBMS-identified households under group 2 and qualified SSS members under group 3 will receive the same amount for six months this month until December.
He added that for 4Ps beneficiaries, the cash aid will be credited directly to their Land Bank of the Philippines or GCash accounts, while WGP beneficiaries will receive the assistance through manual payouts during their scheduled food redemption schedules.
“(We) will conduct an initial manual payout for the 2.5 million CBMS beneficiaries, as they are a new group of beneficiaries, before shifting to digital payments,” he clarified even as local government units (LGUs) have been instructed to help organize the payout schedules.
