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| Senior Citizens of the Philippines get additional cash grant under the new tax reform (ctto) |
Around three million senior citizens are
now qualified to receive an additional P200 every month from the government as
part of the tax reform’s law unconditional cash grant for the poor seniors.
According to the Department of Social
Welfare and Development (DSWD) officer-in-charge Emmanuel Leyco, indigent
senior citizens who are included in the government’s social pension program
will receive a lump sum amount of P2,400 this coming March.
The said amount will be on top of their
monthly amounting to P500.
The P200 additional cash grant is provided
in the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Law to balance the
possible price increase of some basic needs in the market due to the new taxes
imposed.
These qualified senior citizens are among
the 10 million beneficiaries of the unconditional cash grant – also included
are the beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program or 4 Ps.
Leyco also confirmed that subsidy will
increase to P300 per month for two consecutive years.
Meanwhile, DSWD clarified that not every
senior citizens are qualified to receive the TRAIN subsidy as well as the P500
monthly.
“The law specifies that seniors qualified
to receive the P500 monthly pension under the social pension program of the
department are those who are frail, sickly or with disability; without any
pension from other government agencies; and without a permanent source of
income or source of financial assistance/compensation to support their basic
needs,” DSWD’s statement.
“Inasmuch as DSWD would want to include
all senior citizens, the budget for the social pension program is limited,” the
agency added.
Almost P20 million fund allocation is set
for the monthly social pension of the beneficiaries.
“Although issues of exclusion and
inclusion may happen somewhere, the final list should still be validated by
DSWD. Furthermore, the department’s regional offices are constantly monitoring
the implementation of the program,”
“If you hear of or witness any
anomaly, report this immediately to any DSWD regional office or inform us
through our social media accounts. Rest assured that we do not tolerate
any corrupt practice in our program/project implementation,” he added.
The agency also reminded the
Filipinos to report anomalies immediately to any DSWD regional office or
through media accounts, as corruption will not be tolerated.
Source: Philstar
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