A total of PhP 24.5 Billion cash allocation has been fully released by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) in line with the Tax Reform Cash Transfer Project (TRCT) of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). This is the biggest tax reform mitigation program under the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Law.

Of this amount, a PhP 4.3 Billion cash allocation, released on March 5, 2018, will be used to fund cash grants at Php 200/beneficiary/month to the existing 1,805,801 Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) Cash Card beneficiaries.

Meanwhile, the remaining PhP 19.94 Billion cash allocation has been released on March 9, 2018. This will benefit another 8,194,199 beneficiaries under the 4Ps, Social Pension, and National Housing Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR) or Listahan programs

The immediate release of the aforementioned funds entitles 4Ps and Social Pension beneficiaries to receive their cash grants within the month. Notably, the entire annual TRCT cash grant shall be provided one-time per year to the intended beneficiaries.

          The TRCT seeks to provide cash grants to poor households and individuals who may not benefit from the lower income tax rates but may be adversely affected by rising prices. This mitigation measure will grant cash transfer support to the bottom 50% of households (or approximately 10 million households) identified by the DSWD based on the list of beneficiaries registered in the NHTS-PR or Listahan. The subsidy is intended to mitigate the temporary increases in prices owing to the implementation of the comprehensive tax reform program.

          For the first year of the TRCT, funds in the amount of PhP 24.49 Billion have already been lodged to the LBP, in accordance with the FY 2018 General Appropriations Act. The LBP shall use such funds for the TRCT in accordance with the Operational Guidelines issued by the DSWD. Upon completion of the list of TRCT beneficiaries, the Unconditional Cash Transfer National Program Management Office (UCT-NPMO) shall transmit the same to the LBP.

The following shall be the target dates for distribution and payment of TRCT cash grants:

          For the second and third year of implementation of the TRCT, the unconditional cash grant will be increased to PhP 300/beneficiary/month. The DSWD shall complete the List of Beneficiaries not later than January 31 of the preceding year, and shall ensure that the distribution of the TRCT cash grants is completed within the first quarter of the year.

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