GaHer adopts BBM strategy

For orderly UPLIFT payout

TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol (PIA)— Basta Beripikado, Mabilis ang Serbisyo.

This sums up the realizations of the majority of over 700 residents of Garcia Hernandez (GaHer) 30 barangays who were beneficiaries of the Unified Package of Livelihoods, Industry, Food and Transport (UPLIFT) which the national government coursed through the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

During the UPLIFT Pay-out August 12, GaHer Municipal Social Welfare and Development Officer Arbit Noroño said everybody pooled effort to facilitate the orderly and fast conduct of the processes that by noontime, about 70 percent of the beneficiaries have received their P2,000 cash assistance.

The financial assistance is intended to protect the livelihoods, industry, food and transport needs of the poor as well as jumpstart the sluggish economy affected by the Middle East crisis and the war in Russia.

Under the DSWD UPLIFT program, members of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program and Walang Gutom Program get one time P2,000, while those barangay residents who are non 4Ps member but were found out to be near-poor based on the PSA’s Community Based Monitoring System (CBMS) and low income Social Security System (SSS) members can get P2,000 every month from July to December.

This is to secure that 7.5 million Filipino households can get at least P2,000 for 4Ps members which are about 3.5 million, and July to December for the near poor and 25% above the poverty threshold which is estimated at 2.5 million and the low income workers registered at the SSS counted at 1.5 million.

Actually, the process was fast because we have helping us Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) as one of the requirements is to have a national ID, so they are here, (to verify the person through the national biometrics database) and hand in IDS and issue it on the spot; we have personnel from Land Bank of the Philippines as one requirement is for the beneficiary to have a bank account, or GCash account, that those who do not have automated teller machine access, they can open at the payout venue, Noroño shared.

According to the beneficiaries themselves, previous 4Ps payouts were disorderly and chaotic as people generally flock to where the tellers are without personal verification, which is key that unlocks the financial assistance.

“We required them to follow BBM, which is Basta Beripikado, Mabilis ang Serbisyo,” he said.

That means, all beneficiaries who come to the payout are already verified, and for the few who are not verified yet, the PSA, LandBank and GCash are there to assist on site.

“Dako kayo og tabang ang PSA, aron makakuha ko og national ID para makadawat ko sa payout,” (The presence of the PSA registration team is a huge help for me to get the national ID which is a requirement to get the cash payout) says Alberto Galimba Galorpot, 69 years old from Barangay Manaba.

In his 69 years, Galorpot, who works as a farmer, has not had a chance to get a government issued-identification cards, which can verify his identity.

The same government issued ID is also a requirement for people to open bank accounts, to facilitate government cash social assistance.

Learning from past experiences where cash payouts leave beneficiaries short-changed, the government has moved toward financial inclusivity for the beneficiaries, that opening of bank accounts for the facilitated transfer of the cash assistance became the standard.

For this, with verified and established bank accounts now, aside from the one time P2,000 cash payout, 4Ps beneficiaries also get a one-time top-up of P2,000 in the new Landbank or GCash Account, according to the DSWD.

On the other hand, after the initial P2,000 payout, those PSA identified near poor and the 25% of population above the poverty threshold will get a digital payout in the next five months, though either their Landbank accounts or GCash.

For the low-income households as determined by the SSS members are in the CBMS, who are employed and has a monthly salary credit of P20,00 and below and has contributed at least once in 2025 or 2026 and with an SSS disbursement account, where the digital pay-out is downloaded, SSS information officer Hazel Navarro explained. (PIABohol)

NATIONAL ID VERIFICATION. The PSA has lent its registration team’s presence during UPLIFT Payouts to serve the remaining residents who have no government issued identification cards and are not in the government database, so the government is assured that individual beneficiaries are the ones getting the financial assistance and not just anybody else. (PIAbohol)

CASH OR E-WALLET. UPLIFT beneficiaries get one-time cash assistance and would have the succeeding aids in digital payouts through Landbank or any e-wallet the beneficiary is subscribed into. Getting beneficiaries pre-verified before the pay-out tremendously facilitated the orderly processes, according to beneficiaries themselves. (PIABOHOL)