The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) said Thursday, Feb.11 that it has started closely coordinating with the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) for the issuance of cash cards for the recipients of the unconditional cash transfer (UCT) and the Social Pension for Indigent Senior Citizens to ensure the immediate delivery of their entitled social welfare benefits amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. 

DSWD Spokesperson Irene Dumlao apologized for the delayed payout of the UCT to senior citizens, explaining that they have to validate first the master list of beneficiaries because distributing such benefit, which is provided under the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Act (TRAIN). 

“Since we already completed the validation, makakaasa po ang beneficiaries natin, ang mga senior citizens na kabilang sa listahan na matatanggap nila (our beneficiaries can expect that the senior citizens included in the list will receive the benefit) ,” she told DZBB in an interview. 

"In fact sa UCT, nag-umpisa na ang DSWD sa pakikipag-ugnayan  kay Land Bank of the Philippines para ma-issuehan na ng cash cards itong ating mga senior citizens para ang kanilang ayuda, ang kanilang pension at UCT ay matanggap po nila through that mechanism (In fact, for UCT, the DSWD has started coordinating with the Land Bank of the Philippines so that cash cards will be issued to our senior citizens so that their benefits, their pension and UCT will be received through that mechanism) ,” the DSWD official noted. 

She said the beneficiaries could get in touch with the Local Social Welfare and Development Office (LSWDO) or the DSWD Field Office for validation before claiming the grant.

The Unconditional Cash Transfer (UCT) program is considered as the biggest social mitigation program under Republic Act No. 10963 or TRAIN Law, which was signed by President Duterte in 2018.

Under the program, poor households who may not benefit from the tax cuts provided by TRAIN but may be affected by rising prices are given cash grants.

Currently, the annual UCT grant is P3,600 per poor family.

UCT beneficiaries include households in the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), beneficiaries of the Social Pension Program under the Senior Citizens Act, and  other poor households as identified by the DSWD through the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-TR), also known as Listahanan.

Meanwhile, Dumlao also appealed for public understanding over the delayed release of social pension to indigent senior citizens. 

“For 2021, ongoing na po 'yung ating mga Field Offices sa pagdidistribute ng social pension for the first semester ng taong ito (For 2021, the distribution of social pension for the first semester of this year by the Field Offices is ongoing),” she said. 

She said the indigent senior citizens will have to wait for the payout schedule. 
For 2021, the DSWD is targeting to distribute social pension to around 3, 789,874 indigent senior citizens.

Republic Act No. 9994 or the “Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010” provides that seniors qualified to receive social pension are those who are frail, sickly or with disability; without any pension from other government agencies; and without a permanent source of income or source of financial assistance/compensation to support their basic needs.

However, the DSWD said those senior citizens who are not included in the list, but are eligible can still appeal to the Office of the Senior Citizens Affairs (OSCA), their local governments and the nearest Field Office, which has jurisdiction over their areas, for assessment. 

Under SocPen, which is provided for under RA 9994, qualified indigent senior citizens receive a monthly stipend of P500 to help augment their daily subsistence and other medical needs.

The social pension is distributed on a semestral basis at P3,000 per semester or P500 per month for six months.