“To care for those who once cared for us is one of the highest honors.”

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) continues its release of cash grants to its social pensioners under the Unconditional Cash Transfer (UCT) Program for Social Pension. These beneficiaries are the qualified indigent senior citizens receiving social pension based on the criteria for inclusion in the Social Pension program.

Despite the challenges brought about by the pandemic and the disasters that hit Bicol last year, a total of 73,788 elderlies have been given the UCT-SocPen amounting to P265,636,800.00 across the region.

This January, the UCT-SocPen payout for 2019 continues and targets the remaining 135,334 beneficiaries with a total amount of P487,202,400 with the hope of completing it by end of February.

About UCT

DSWD is the government agency in charge of administering the P36.5 billion allocated funds for the Unconditional Cash Transfer (UCT) Program in the National Budget.

The UCT Program being the biggest social mitigation program under the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Law, seeks to provide cash grants to poor households who may not benefit from the tax cuts provided by TRAIN but may be affected by rising prices.

This Program provides a one-time unconditional grant of P2,400.00 equivalent to Two Hundred Pesos (200.00) per month in the first year of implementation, and P3,600.00 equivalent to Three Hundred Pesos (P300.00) per month in the succeeding years of its implementation.

UCT beneficiaries are composed of (a) households in the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), (b) beneficiaries of the Social Pension Program under the Senior Citizens Act, and (c) other poor households as identified by the Department through its National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-TR), popularly known as Listahanan.

Below is the data as of December, 2020.