Some 5,770 household members of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program in Antique have availed of the electricity lifeline or subsidized rate program.

Jeffrey Gabucay, 4Ps Antique Provincial Link, said the electricity discount availed by indigent beneficiaries somehow alleviated their situations.

“The household beneficiaries availing of the discount can use their money, supposedly to be paid for their electric bill, to meet their other needs,” he said in an interview on Friday.

Antique Electric Cooperative, under General Manager Neal Peter Veñegas, said the lifeline rate program mandated by Republic Act 11552 or the Electric Power Industry Reform Act 2001 provides discounts ranging from 20 percent to 100 percent in their monthly dues.

In a forum on Thursday, Pantawid Division Chief Belen Gebusion said Antique has the highest enrollees for the program in Western Visayas based on the Department of Energy data.

Regionwide, there are 34,969 household beneficiaries.

Gebusion, meanwhile, said the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has also disbursed PHP7.09 billion in cash grants to 368,141 active members in Western Visayas.

“There are also 82,041 household beneficiaries that have graduated and exited from the program in Western Visayas as of March 7 this year,” she added.

From Antique, 10,248 beneficiaries graduated and exited the program after they were found self-sufficient and had no children of up to 18 years monitored in schools.

The DSWD also disbursed as of March 19 over PHP1.09 billion as social pension for 182,108 indigent senior citizens in the region; 22,878 came from Antique for the first semester of 2024. (PNA)