Late applicants for senior citizens aid reach 22,185

CEBU, Philippines - There are still 22,185 senior citizens from the 80 barangays of Cebu City who filed in their application for the P2,000 financial aid from the city government despite the April 21 deadline.

According to Guillermo “Dodong” Casinillo of the Office for Senior Citizens Affairs, the application period ended last Tuesday; and that they are aiming for 25,000 applicants but since the recent figures show that there are still 2,000 more slots available, they are still accepting these late applications.

Barangay Guadalupe has the most number of beneficiaries which reached 1,107 while the mountain barangay of Pamutan has the least with 47, according to the latest report from the OSCA.

Most of the other barangays have almost 500 beneficiaries who qualified for the assistance.

The financial assistance serves as both a Christmas gift and as birthday gift to bonafide members of senior citizens groups organized in each barangay of the city. This is initiated by Mayor on-leave Tomas Osmeña.

The P50-million budget for this project was appropriated from the P250-million savings of the city.

Osmeña initially planned to sustain this project and source out the funds from the revenue of the South Road Properties. However, because of the controversies hounding the legalities of the SRP, most especially in the recent Filinvest joint venture deal, the project will last only “as long as the P50 million can suffice”, Casinillo said.  

There is no fixed date yet as to when the assistance will be released because the OSCA still has to meet with the city councilors. — Crischellyn Abayon and Queennie Estrella Kuebler (THE FREEMAN)