DSWD-7 to UCT beneficiaries: Be more patient
Social pensioners are among the beneficiaries of the UCT cash aid. These include beneficiaries of UCT Listahanan or UCT 4Ps | Photo courtesy of DSWD-7 (file photo)
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Department of Social Welfare and Development in Central Visayas (DSWD-7) has asked Unconditional Cash Transfer (UCT) beneficiaries to stay patient, as the agency has experienced delays in the payment of their financial assistance.
Jiah Sayson, UCT coordinator of DSWD-7, said that the UCT grant had started way back in 2018, where the program would only last for three years or until 2020.
Sayson said that almost 100 percent of their UCT beneficiaries had already received their cash grant for the year 2018 worth P2,400.
For the years 2019 and 2020, UCT beneficiaries are expected to receive P3,600 per year.
Read: 279K senior citizens in CV to receive P3K social pension by May — DSWD-7
She said that UCT beneficiaries were members of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), Social Pensioners, and those who were selected from the Listahanan.
“Karon, unsa man ang status sa implementation? Ang 2018, halos 100 percent nadawat nana sa atong mga members. Whether UCT Social Pension, UCT Listahanan, or UCT 4Ps,” Sayson said.
(What is the status of the impllementation now? In the 2018 [payout], 100 percent of the members received the assistance — whether they were UCT Social Pension, UCT Listahan, or UCT 4 Ps.)
“Aduna lang gyuy mga pipila nga wala makadawat kay atol sa atong pag-payout, together with Landbank, wala sila, ni-transfer of residence, o diba kaha ang atong social pensioners kay bedridden ug wala pod maka-andam sa authorization documents,” she said.
(There are just a few who did not receive the financial assistance because during the payout together with Landbank, they did transfer their residence or the social pensioners were bedridden and they had not prepared their authorization documents.)
She also said that the 2019 budget for the UCT beneficiaries only came out in October 2020, where they experienced difficulties in conducting payouts, due to the restrictions imposed to prevent the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
Due to this, the agency decided to issue a cash card to UCT beneficiaries, in coordination with the Landbank, which they are targeting to distribute in June 2021.
The move was done to avoid the mass gathering of beneficiaries. UCT Pantawid members, however, have already received their cash assistance for the years 2018, 2019, and 2020, since they already have an existing cash card.
She said that they had an ongoing validation to UCT Listahanan and UCT Social Pension so that they could receive their cash card.
She said that they already validated 89 percent of their members, while around 18,000 UCT members had not been validated yet.
Aside from this, some funds were also misrouted to other Landbank branches.
“Halimbawa, ang kwarta para sa mga San Fernando beneficiaries nato, napunta sa Landbank Siquijor. So ato nang giayos dayon,” she added.
(For example, the money for the San Fernando beneficiaries went instead to Landbank Siquijor. So we fixed that immediately.)
UCT Listahanan has 282,379 beneficiaries in the region, 270,910 for UCT Social Pension, and 290,054 for UCT Pantawid members.
The UCT was granted through Republic Act (R.A.) No. 10963 or the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Act.
It was intended to lessen the impact of the Train law, which imposes higher tax on petroleum products.
/dbs
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