July 1st, 2022
I have been informed that the Department of Social Welfare and Development will begin distributing the promised P500 monthly ayuda as inflation relief today.
Around one million families are expected to receive P1500 today through their cash cards and more will do so in the coming days, to complete PRRD’s directive that the bottom 50 percent of families be provided aid.
In November last year, the Committee on Ways and Means called upon the government to provide subsidies to mitigate the impact of the fuel crisis. We proposed a monthly subsidy similar to the unconditional cash transfer under TRAIN.
By March 22, PRRD directed the release of a monthly ₱500 ayuda following our request, that of the Economic Development Cluster, and those of other sectors.
On June 8, I wrote to ES Medialdea to follow up on the release of the subsidy.
By June 12, the DSWD responded that they will indeed begin release this month.
While this is by no means enough to address the impact of higher oil prices on Filipino families, it will also help ensure that the poorest families do not fall into hunger.
I am also calling on the DSWD to release some pending 9.4 billion in aid from the TRAIN UCT. There are also unreleased Rice Farmer Financial Assistance subsidies of P5000 per rice farmer in the DA. Finally, there are unrelease Pantawid Pasada subsidies in the LTFRB. These are old programs whose release now can help tide the economic pain for millions of Filipino households.
In the coming days we will also begin discussing with the new economic team more structural solutions to address inflation without killing jobs or hurting growth.