BAGUIO CITY – The Department of Social Welfare and Development in Cordillera Administrative Region (DSWD-CAR) on Monday said it has kicked off the distribution of P2,000 cash aid to 53,212 beneficiaries of the first two groups under the Unified Package for Livelihood, Industry, Food, and Transport (UPLIFT) program.

Of the total, 35,934 are Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) beneficiaries who have already received their P12,000 top-up (P2,000 monthly for six months) directly in their digital wallets prior to kickoff.

The remaining 17,278 are poor and near-poor households listed under the Community-Based Monitoring System (CBMS), the DSWD-CAR said.

Enrique Gascon, DSWD-CAR officer-in-charge regional director, said in an interview, "We have simultaneously kicked off the payout for the beneficiaries in Abra, Benguet, and two sites in Mountain Province today with 1,485 beneficiaries."

This leaves 15,793 beneficiaries under Group 2 who are still to receive their cash assistance in the coming days as their registration is being completed.

Gascon said payout for the second group will take a bit longer considering the registration required in the national identification system of the Philippine Statistics Authority, account details or an online wallet, aside from the registration in the government-to-person system of the DSWD.

"We are doing it manually right now. We need to do all of this registration on the first payout so that on the second payout, they do not have to queue and devote time for the payout schedule as their financial assistance will already go directly to their account," he said.

He added the DSWD now requires the national ID as the only identification for its program beneficiaries. The national ID can be used to open a digital wallet as well as a bank account.

Groups 2 and 3 will get their financial aid of P2,000 a month for six months, received once a month.

Gascon said there are three groups of beneficiaries under the UPLIFT program, which is a directive of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. to cushion the effect of the energy crisis.

The first group is the 4Ps, the second group are the poor and near-poor listed in the CBMS, and the last group are active Social Security System (SSS) members whose names are still being generated by the SSS central data system.

The number of SSS members who will be included in Group 3 has yet to be determined. Those qualified are those with a monthly income not exceeding the threshold of P13,383.

The poor under the CBMS are heads of households with a monthly income of P13,383 or below, while the near-poor are those within the 25 percent allowance from the income threshold. (PNA)