Distribution of P500 targeted cash transfer starts today – Tulfo  

MANILA, Philippines — After vowing to clean up the list of beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), Social Welfare Secretary Erwin Tulfo gave assurance that the department will start distribution of the P500 targeted cash transfer (TCT) dole-outs to the country’s poorest families to cushion the effects of escalating prices of oil and basic commodities.

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) chief, who officially assumed his post last Thursday, said that they aim to cover 12.4 million Filipino beneficiaries under the TCT program.

The beneficiaries who will receive assistance consist of four million families from the 4Ps; six million non-4Ps who were former beneficiaries of the Unconditional Cash Transfer Program; and 2.4 families on the DSWD “Listahanan,” or the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction – the database established by the DSWD to identify the country’s poorest families.

Tulfo said the process of depositing the grant to the beneficiaries’ cash cards will start this morning, and may only take five to six days.

“President Marcos called me on Saturday to ask when would we give the cash assistance to the people. I said, ‘on Monday morning, sir,’” Tulfo said in Filipino.

The Department of Budget and Management released last Friday the P6.2-billion fund for the program that will be distributed as monthly assistance to low-income families.

“This money will help our less fortunate countrymen, especially at a time when the price of basic goods is rising because of the worldwide crisis we are facing,” the DSWD chief said.

The TCT program aims to provide a P500 monthly cash grant program to poor Filipinos. Former president Rodrigo Duterte issued the directive last May, but the fund for the program was released only last Friday, under the new Marcos administration.

The program will be implemented by DSWD for six months.

Tulfo also appealed to the beneficiaries to put their grant to good use by buying food and other needed necessities. He also warned that using it for illegal activities, such as gambling, may result in the forfeiture of their grants.