MALATE, Manila- The Listahanan of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) MIMAROPA will conduct house-to-house validation of some 94,000 potential beneficiaries of the government’s Unconditional Cash Transfer (UCT) program starting this month regionwide.

There are 18,662 target households in Occidental Mindoro; 22,892 households in Oriental Mindoro; 6,384  households in Marinduque;  7,755 households in Romblon; and 38,435 households in Palawan.

“Under RA 10963 of 2017 or the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law, UCT program will provide unconditional cash grants to Listahanan-identified poor households whose income belong up to the seventh decile,” said Listahanan Regional Coordinator Ernie Jarabejo.

UCT is the biggest social mitigation program under the Duterte administration to aid families who will not benefit from the lower income tax rates but will be adversely affected by rising prices of basic commodities. Recipients will receive P200.00 per month this year; and P300.00/month in 2019 and 2020.

DSWD Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) and Social Pension program beneficiaries will also receive UCT grants to mitigate the moderate and temporary increases in prices due to the enforcement of the comprehensive tax reform program, added Jarabejo.

More than 400 field staff are deployed in the five island MIMAROPA provinces to complete the UCT validation in April.

Jarabejo also calls target household respondents to provide complete and factual information to ensure accurate results.

Listahanan is the government mechanism to identify who and where the poor are. According to the 2015 database, 37 percent or 221,324 households identified as poor out of the 584,562 total households assessed in Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan provinces. ###