Recipients of the government’s expanded Unified Package for Livelihood, Industry, Food and Transport (UPLIFT) program in this capital town of Antique will prioritize food and other family needs using their PHP2,000 cash aid.

The 200 initial beneficiaries from San Jose de Buenavista trooped to the town’s Barangay 2 Gymnasium for the nationwide kickoff on Monday.

Beneficiary Hermis Huera, a 35-year-old resident of Barangay Atabay, relies on his daily income as a tricycle driver to provide for his five children.

Huera said their family is not included in the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program and Walang Gutom initiative of the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

“I am glad that our family is a recipient of the UPLIFT cash assistance because I will have some amount to buy our food and for the school supplies of my children,” he said in the dialect.

Another beneficiary, Vilma Bayombong, 77, from Barangay 5, will buy rice for her two children who are living with her.

“I will also buy milk and my needed medicines,” she said.

Antique Social Welfare and Development Team Leader Darlene Abagat said nearly 9,000 poor and near-poor households throughout the province are included in the program.

“We are going to have a payout also in the 17 other municipalities of Antique after San Jose de Buenavista,” she said.

Abagat said that the UPLIFT payout on Monday was for households which belong to Group 2 or poor and near poor, identified through the Community-Based Monitoring System of the Philippine Statistics Authority. (PNA)