Gov’t’s targeted cash subsidy to cushion impact of high prices —NEDA

Published August 03, 2022 11:41 AM By TED CORDERO,GMA News

The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said Wednesday that the release of targeted subsidies to low-income families will cushion the impact of elevated prices of oil and other commodities.

“The timely release of the fund is crucial in the government’s efforts to help the poor cope with the continuous rise in commodity prices due to external shocks and other factors,” NEDA Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said in a statement.

Balisacan issued the statement after the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) approved the release of P4.1-billion

Special Allotment Release Order (SARO) for the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) Targeted Cash Transfer (TCT) Program. 

The amount will cover the second tranche requirements for the implementation of the TCT Program, in which beneficiaries will receive P500 in monthly cash subsidy in three tranches for six months or a total of P3,000.

The DBM early last month released P6.2 billion

for the first tranche of the TCT. 

Balisacan said that the cash transfer program is an important intervention to protect the purchasing power of the poor, which is among the priorities of the Marcos administration’s 8-point socioeconomic agenda. 

The NEDA is tasked to flesh out the 8-point agenda in the Philippine Development Plan 2023-2028, which the economic planning agency committed to deliver by the end of the year.

“Our near-term goal as envisioned in our 8-point agenda is to safeguard Filipinos against the most pressing issues today, which are rising inflation and the lingering socioeconomic scarring caused by the COVID-19 pandemic,” Balisacan said.

Meanwhile, the P4.1-billion budget allotment for the second tranche requirements for implementing the TCT Program will benefit over four million beneficiaries, who mostly belong to the poorest 50% of the country’s population.

The DSWD is tasked to distribute the cash subsidy and provide P500 per month for two months.

Distribution will be through remittance centers, special disbursing officers, and the Land Bank of the Philippines. —KG, GMA News

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