San Fernando, Pampanga—The government has distributed P1.75 million in financial assistance to the 733 poor residents of this city to cushion the impact of rising prices of prime commodities brought about by the implementation of the new tax reform law or TRAIN.
Acting Social Welfare Secretary Virginia Orogo personally distributed P2,400 each to indigent beneficiaries and senior citizens, representing the P200 a month in assistance for the first year of the three-year Unconditional Cash Transfer program up to 2020.
The recipients in Pampanga are among 10 million Filipinos who started receiving financial assistance from the national government for three years with total budget of P24 billion as contained under the General Appropriations Act of 2018, with the Land Bank of the Philippines as the disbursing arm.
Orogo said the benefit will increase next year to P3,600 or Php 300 for 12 months up to the year 2020.
The secretary said the assistance will help poor families and senior citizens to cope up with increasing prices of prime commodities following the new tax law, which aims to generate more funds for the Duterte administration’s “Build Build Build” programs.
Regional Director Gemma Gabuya of the Department of Social Welfare and Development said the financial assistance was timely to help disadvantaged Filipinos cover the increasing prices of their daily needs.
Mayor Edwin D. Santiago thanked Orogo and Gabuya for selecting the poor families and seniors of San Fernando as the first UCT recipients from the national government.
“The assistance is a big help to supplement their meager incomes,” Santiago added.