Senior citizens month celebration: Some elderly went home empty-handed

CEBU, Philippines – Hundreds of senior citizens in Cebu City yesterday celebrated the opening of the Senior Citizens Month.

But while most of them left the Plaza Sugbo with joy in the eyes, some went home empty handed and disappointed.

This after Mayor Michael Rama did not announce when he will order for the resumption of the application for the financial assistance to senior citizens that was withheld last June due to the change in administration.

There are an estimated 5,000 senior citizens who are qualified to receive the benefits but they not yet part of the 32,000 who are currently receiving financial assistance of P4,000 per year from the city government.

Rama said that the assistance will continue next year but he is yet to meet with the officials of the Office of the Senior Citizens Affair to finalize the new guideline before he opens the program for new applicants.

Among the things he wants to be updated about is the status of the release of the budget like how much has been released for this year and how much will be needed next year.

The mayor wants to solicit recommendations on how the city will be able to prevent abuse of such program because he had heard reports that some senior citizens who are beneficiaries of the program but not qualified.

Guillermo Casinillo, OSCA chief, earlier said there are more or less 1,000 senior citizens who are part of the payroll but have not been living in Cebu city for a long time. They just decided to come back here to avail of the assistance.

To prevent this in the future, Casinillo recommended requiring applicants to be a registered voter of the city in the 2007 elections and the latest elections last May.

He also wants the committee on social services in the barangays to issue a certification that an applicant has been residing in their barangay for a long time like 10 years.

Currently, the guideline only provides that senior citizens at the time of application must be registered members of the OSCA and must be registered voters of Cebu City as of May 2007.

Last year, the city government allocated P128 million released this year to the 32,000 senior citizens. (FREEMAN)