Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Acting Secretary Virginia N. Orogo made this appeal during her first press conference held at the DSWD Central Office, Batasan Hills, Quezon City earlier this week as she responded to queries from media on the Department’s role in poverty alleviation and the situation of street children.

“DSWD cannot do this alone, we need the support of all sectors including other government agencies, local government units, faith-based-groups, among others to resolve the issues of poverty and the increasing number of street children,” Acting Sec. Orogo explained.

“We are coming up with new programs that will be more effective in dealing with street children,” she added.

Meanwhile, joining the Secretary during the press briefing, Undersecretary Florita Villar discussed updates on the implementation of the Unconditional Cash Transfer Program (UCT) stating that 1.7 million out of the 2.6 million or 65 percent of identified households based on the 2015 Listahanan have been validated as potential beneficiaries for the UCT Program under the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law.

“Out of the 1.7 million validated beneficiaries under the Listahanan, 600,000 will receive their UCT grants by the end of July,”  she said.

Overall, the DSWD targets to pay the grants of 8 million beneficiaries or  80 percent of the 10 million intended recipients of UCT by end of July. The number includes 4.4 million Pantawid Pamilya beneficiaries, 3 million social pensioners, and 600, 000 Listahanan validated beneficiaries.

“As early as March 5, we have provided the approved list of some 4.1 million UCT beneficiaries to Landbank for payout,” Usec. Villar added.

Other DSWD officials present during the press conference were Undersecretary Malou Turalde,  Undersecretary Emmanuel Leyco, Assistant Secretary Anton Hernandez,  Assistant Secretary Noel Macalalad,  Assistant Secretary Glenda Relova, and Director Alice Bonoan. ###