The Land Bank of the Philippines (LANDBANK) has already released P60.36 billion in unconditional cash transfers (UCTs) as of December 2020 to beneficiary-households of the Duterte administration’s social mitigation program under the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Act (TRAIN).

These disbursements were from the program funds for the UCT program released from March 2018 up to December last year, LANDBANK president-CEO Cecilia Borromeo said.

From March 2018 to December 2020, a total of P22.53 billion was disbursed by the LANDBANK to UCT beneficiaries from the UCT Program Funds under the 2018 General Appropriations Act (GAA)

Another P23.71 billion under the FY 2019 UCT Program Funds was released from July 2019 to December 2020, and P14.12 billion from the 2020 UCT Program Fund in December last year.

Borromeo submitted her report on the usage of the UCT funds transferred by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) to LANDBANK to Senate President Vicente Sotto III.

Finance Secretary and LANDBANK chairman Carlos Dominguez III was furnished a copy of the report.

Under the TRAIN, up to 30 percent of the incremental revenues from the law is earmarked for social mitigation measures, such as the UCTs, while 7o percent is earmarked for President Duterte’s centerpiece program “Build, Build, Build.”

Republic Act (RA) No. 10963 or the TRAIN Law, which also slashed personal income tax (PIT) rates for 99 percent of salary earners, was implemented starting January 2018.

RA 10963 benefits salary earners because the hefty cuts in their PIT tax payments translates into extra income for these taxpayers equivalent to about a one-month take-home pay.

This law also adjusted the excise taxes on fuel, which prompted the inclusion of the social mitigation program to ease the initial impact of the adjustments on the poorest 50 percent of the population.

The UCT fund transferred to LANDBANK totaled P24.488 billion under the 2018 GAA.

Another P30.488 billion and P23.298 billion were transferred to LANDBANK for the UCT program under the 2019 and 2020 General Appropriations Act (GAAs), respectively.

For 2018, the law provided a UCT of P2,400 each for some 10 million targeted households.

For the succeeding years of 2019 and 2020, each beneficiary-household received P3,600.

The UCT fund for 2018 of P24.488 billion covered the P24 billion in cash grants for 10 million beneficiaries.

While P22.53 billion in UCT funds were disbursed, around P1.47 billion has yet to be distributed because the LANDBANK is still waiting for the submission by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) of the remaining payroll files of beneficiaries under the UCT program.

Under the 2019 national budget, the UCT fund amounted to P36.488 billion, of which P6 billion have yet to be downloaded by the BTr to LANDBANK, leaving it with P30.488 billion for the implementation of the program.

Of the P30.488 billion, P23.71 billion was released to UCT beneficiaries.

About P6.29 billion in funds have yet to be disbursed, pending the DSWD submission of the beneficiaries’ payroll files.

A total of P5.5 billion of this UCT fund was transferred to the BTr on April 1, 2020, to help fund the government’s COVID-19 response programs, and was returned to the fund on December 29, 2020.

For 2020, the total UCT fund under the GAA was P36.488 billion, of which P13.19 billion have yet to be downloaded to the LANDBANK.

The downloaded sum of P23.3 billion covered the P14.12 billion disbursed so far to UCT beneficiaries in December last year, while P8.9 billion have yet to be released pending the submission by the DSWD of the beneficiaries’ payroll files.

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