LEGAZPI CITY, July 20 -- The Department of Social Welfare and Development in Bicol (DSWD-5) has started distributing financial assistance under the Unified Package for Livelihoods, Industry, Food and Transport (UPLIFT) program, providing PHP2,000 each to more than 8,000 poor and near-poor households in the region.

In an interview, DSWD-Bicol chief administrative officer Michael Jerome Bellena said the UPLIFT program is part of the whole-of-government response of the administration of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. to assist Filipinos whose purchasing power has been affected by the ongoing tension in the Middle East.

"The instruction of our President and the DSWD to Secretary Rex Gatchalian is to implement the provision of assistance ...