THE Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) launched last Thursday the modified conditional cash transfer (MCCT) program with some 323 families as beneficiaries.

Iryn Cubangbang, information officer of DSWD region one, explained that while the MCCT is generally part of the conditional cash transfer program or the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, the new program caters specifically to families in need of special protection such as single parents, ethnic group migrants such as aetas and badjaos, and homeless families.

The MCCT beneficiaries were not included in the 4Ps.

Under the MCCT, the beneficiaries receive a maximum of P1,400 allowances per month.

“The conditions under MCCT were the same as that of the regular conditional cash transfer, they only differ with its beneficiaries,” Cubangbang said.

The enrollees in the conditional cash transfer program for Pangasinan totalled about 111, 000.

SOCIAL PENSION

Meanwhile, some 14,754 indigent senior citizens aged 77 years old and above in the province are covered in the social pension plan of the DSWD wherein they receive P500 a month.

Cubangbang also said the DSWD released a P15.2 million cash grant last year for their livelihood assistance program, particularly in the towns of Bolinao, Mabini, Aguilar and Urbiztondo.

Cubangbang admitted that in some households, the families could actually avail of all the programs at the same time, provided they qualify under the National Household Targeting System (NHTS), which the agency uses to identify the qualified recipients of the government programs.–Dada Martin Austria

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