The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) reiterated on Thursday that the Unified Package for Livelihoods, Industry, Food, and Transport (UPLIFT) assistance being provided to poor, near-poor and low-income Filipinos, including qualified members of the Social Security System (SSS), is funded by the national government through the DSWD.
The UPLIFT assistance is one of the initiatives of the Marcos administration that provides financial aid to ease the economic burden of poor, non-poor and low-income Filipinos due to the effects of the energy emergency brought about by the geopolitical conflict in the Middle East.
“Nais po naming linawin at bigyang diin na ang UPLIFT Assistance ay programa ng ating pamahalaan at ito ay (We want to clarify and emphasize that the UPLIFT Assistance is a program of the government and this is) funded under the DSWD’s budget. The financial assistance being released to qualified SSS beneficiaries does not come from their contributions, hindi po ito kukunin o ibabawas sa mga hinuhulog ninyo (this would not be taken or subtracted from your contributions),” DSWD spokesperson Assistant Secretary Irene Dumlao said in a news release on Thursday.
She said while the SSS helped identify qualified beneficiaries and facilitate the disbursement of the financial assistance, the fund comes entirely from the DSWD and the national government.
“Dahil sila po ang may datos kung sino ang qualified na maging beneficiary, ang SSS po ay ating implementing partner. Pero lahat po, yung cash aid na binibigay sa benepisyaryo ng Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), Walang Gutom Program (WGP), yung galing sa talaan ng Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), at itong sa SSS, lahat ay galing sa DSWD,” Dumlao said.
The DSWD issued the clarification following questions and misconceptions circulating on social media claiming that the monthly assistance is taken from SSS members’ contributions.
The DSWD spokesperson also clarified that not all members are covered by the program since beneficiaries were identified based on specific criteria provided by SSS to ensure that assistance reaches those who need it most.
“Nais din po namin ulitin na hindi lahat ng SSS members ay benepisyaryo ng UPLIFT Assistance. Maaari kayong makipag-ugnayan sa SSS upang malaman kung isa kayo sa qualified beneficiaries (We also want to reiterate that not all SSS members are beneficiaries of the UPLIFT Assistance. You can get in touch with the SSS to know if you are one of the beneficiaries),” Dumlao said.
The list of SSS beneficiaries was based from the 2024 Community Based Monitoring System of the PSA.
For SSS beneficiaries, they must be employed SSS members with a monthly salary credit of less than PHP20,000, have paid at least one SSS contribution from 2025 to 2026, and have an enrolled SSS disbursement account. (PNA)
