Pantawid kuryente availed by Capiceños this month
ROXAS CITY – Capiceño beneficiaries of the Pantawid Kuryente: Katas ng VAT of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will already enjoy the subsidy program this month.
According to Engineer Edgar Diaz, General Manager of the Capiz Electric Cooperative (CAPELCO), the 70,000 Capiceño lifeline users will have their bill deduction already starting this month.
The P36 million budget for CAPELCO lifeline users in Capiz is part of the government's gains from the implementation of the expanded Value Added Tax (VAT), Diaz said.
He added that said budget is intended for a one-time P500 subsidy to lifeline users or those consuming less than 100 kilowatt hours of electricity.
The basis of the electric consumption is the billing last May; however, the beneficiaries will have their bill deduction in August, Diaz stressed.
Social Welfare and Development Secretary Esperanza Cabral disclosed earlier that 90 percent of Meralco lifeline users or consumers in the National Capital Region with an electric consumption of one to 100 kilowatt hours per month have claimed their one-time cash subsidy of P500 each.
Cabral said that of the P2 billion Pantawid Kuryente: Katas ng VAT subsidy allocated initially, DSWD has released more than P768 million to Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP); more than P989 million to the National Electrification Administration (NEA); and P200 million to the Private Electric Power Operators Association (PEPOA) for the payment of the subsidy.
As of August 1, the Land Bank of the Philippines reported having served 972,163 claimants in the Meralco franchise areas in the National Capital Region, Regions III and IV-A who have been paid more than P486 million. Ninety percent (525,301) of lifeline users in the National Capital Region, close to 53 percent in Region III, and 43 percent in Region IV-A have been served.
On the other hand, the NEA has issued more than 1.97 million credit memos to lifeline users worth more than P989 million. The lifeline users issued with credit memos consist of about 42 percent of the 4.7 million targeted lifeline users under electric cooperatives nationwide, she said.
Cabral pointed out that the rest will be provided as soon as additional money, amounting to another P1.4 billion, is released for the purpose. (PIA/Jemin B. Guillermo)