Government distributes P500 monthly subsidy 

DAVAO CITY —To cushion the impact of the snowballing prices brought about by the recent oil price hike, the national government has started to distribute the cash subsidy under the Targeted Cash Transfer (TCT)  Program this June 2022.

The program targets ten (10) million household-beneficiaries, those who have existing cash cards received the first tranche amounting to P1,000, or two-months’ worth of subsidies. The distribution started last week.

  The distribution is in line with the signing of the Joint Memorandum Circular (JMC) No. 1, series of 2022.

In a press statement, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) stated that the TCT program, which was announced by President Rodrigo Duterte earlier this year, aims to cushion the  impact of the elevated costs of fuel and other commodities. The intended beneficiaries of the program  are the bottom 50 percent of Filipino households around the country. 

Signed by the DSWD, Department of Finance, Department of Budget and Management, and the  National Economic and Development Authority, the JMC provides the guidelines for the  implementation of the TCT program. 

Under the guidelines, the Duterte administration, through the DSWD, is providing cash grants  amounting to P3,000, or P500 per month for six months, to an approximate 12.4 million household beneficiaries.  

The beneficiaries are composed of four million households under the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino  Program (4Ps); six million non-4Ps households and individuals who were previously beneficiaries of  the Unconditional Cash Transfer Program of 2018 to 2020 under the Tax Reform for Acceleration and  Inclusion Law, which include beneficiaries of the Social Pension Program; and 2.4 million households  in the database of Listahanan that fall within the first to fifth income decile, or other poverty data  sources of the DSWD. 

As indicated in the implementing guidelines, the DSWD is providing the list of beneficiaries to the Land  Bank of the Philippines (LBP) which is distributing the cash subsidy through its cash cards and through  other banks, electronic money issuers, or remittance centers