160,000 Negros families to receive UPLIFT aid

By Glazyl M. Jopson

BACOLOD CITY — The Department of Social Welfare and Development-Negros Island Region is targeting 160,000 families across the region for financial assistance under the Unified Package for Livelihoods, Industry, Food, and Transport program.

Each qualified family will receive PHP 2,000 in assistance.

In a media interview Thursday, DSWD-NIR Director Arwin Razo said the pilot distribution began this week in Sagay City, Talisay City, and Hinigaran in Negros Occidental.

The pilot distribution also covered Dumaguete City and Vallehermoso in Negros Oriental.

Razo said Negros Occidental had the largest allocation, with more than 90,000 family beneficiaries.

The recipients were classified as Group 2 beneficiaries, comprising poor and near-poor families identified through the Philippine Statistics Authority’s 2024 Community-Based Monitoring System.

Razo said qualified Group 2 families would receive PHP 2,000 monthly from July through December.

“Tuloy-tuloy lang for six months,” he added.

The assistance is intended to prevent vulnerable families from falling below the poverty threshold.

Razo said the agency expected to begin the large-scale rollout the following week.

The first month’s assistance was distributed manually, but the agency plans to use a digital platform for succeeding payouts.

Group 1 beneficiaries consist of families enrolled in the DSWD’s Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program and Walang Gutom Program.

They will receive a one-time PHP 2,000 payment through their automated teller machine accounts.

President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. announced the expansion of UPLIFT assistance last month as part of continuing government measures to cushion vulnerable sectors from the effects of the Middle East crisis.