Monthly hike in unconditional cash transfer to continue this year—DSWD

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) on Thursday said the additional monthly increase in cash grants for unconditional cash transfer (UCT) beneficiaries would push through this year.

According to DSWD Assistant Secretary for Policy and Plans Noel Macalalad, the implementation of UCT and the additional monthly P100 increase in the cash grant this 2019 will push through.

“From what we heard, the UCT and the prescribed P300 pesos per month for 2019 will push through,” Macalalad said in a statement.

Under the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law, UCT is the tax subsidy offered to help 10 million poor Filipino families who are affected by the adjustments in excise tax of petroleum products.

DSWD said the cash grant amounts to P200 per month or P2,400 for one year in 2018, while P300 per month or P3,600 for one year in 2019.

Macalalad also said the UCT program has been a priority since last year and has been “budgeted” by the Department of Finance (DOF).

Aside from the cash transfer, Macalalad also revealed that the DSWD would offer “cash cards” this year instead of manual payment on cash grants.

“Right now we are transitioning. In 2018 we were doing manual payment to the beneficiaries. This 2019, the government would like to push to transition them to cash cards so that we can eliminate the need to put up face-to-face payouts. What will happen is that the money will be deposited to the beneficiaries’ cash cards’ accounts,” he said.

Macalalad added that the cash grants would be distributed this June.

Asec. Macalalad said that similar to last year, the DSWD was targeting to start distributing the UCT grant in June as the Department would also be “focusing on the registration of the beneficiaries for their cash cards.” /je/ac