The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is set to start distributing cash assistance this week under its expanded Uplift program, short for Unified Package for Livelihood, Industry, Food and Transport.
Social Welfare Secretary Rex Gatchalian confirmed the timeline during a press briefing on Friday, linking the assistance to ongoing tensions in the Middle East and their impact on the economy.
“Yesterday, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. announced the Uplift assistance. This is the pivot or the next stage of our financial assistance for our fellow citizen in light of the energy emergency,” Gatchalian said.
The program is designed to reach roughly 7.5 million households and individuals across three separate groups, according to Gatchalian.
The first group covers 3.5 million households already enrolled in the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) and the Walang Gutom Program (WGP). The second consists of 2.5 million poor and near-poor households flagged through the Philippine Statistics Authority’s Community-Based Monitoring System, or CBMS. The third group includes 1.5 million low-income members of the Social Security System.
Not all beneficiaries will receive the same amount or on the same schedule, Gatchalian explained. Households under 4Ps and WGP will get a single cash payout of P2,000. Meanwhile, CBMS-identified households and qualifying SSS members will receive P2,000 every month for six months, running from July through December.
The method of payout will also differ by group. 4Ps beneficiaries will have funds deposited directly into their Land Bank of the Philippines or GCash accounts, while WGP beneficiaries will collect their aid manually, timed to their existing food redemption schedules.
For the newly added CBMS group, the DSWD will initially hand out the assistance manually before transitioning that group to digital payments as well, Gatchalian said.
Local government units will assist in coordinating the payout logistics on the ground, Gatchalian added though he was careful to stress that the actual beneficiary list came exclusively from the PSA’s CBMS data, not from any local or national officials.