P100,000 grant for the elderly

CEBU, Philippines - Over 900 senior citizens in Cebu City attended the 9th Senior Citizens Congress yesterday where the office of Senator Pia Cayetano through the group of Engineer Grezilda “Gigi” Sanchez-Zaballero, daughter of the late vice governor Greg Sanchez, turned over the P100,000 grant for medicines for senior citizens in Cebu City.

Among the special guests in the activity was Ricardo Cardinal Vidal, who was the keynote speaker.

About 100 senior citizens will benefit from the assistance where they will get P1,000 worth of coupon exchangeable for medicines they can claim at the Vicente Sotto Memorial Center.

Jeffrey Ocampo, executive assistant of the mayor and assigned at Office of the Senior Citizens Affairs, said they have yet to draft the guidelines on how they will go about the release of the assistance.

Since only 100 senior citizens will benefit, he said they will have to do a careful evaluation of the beneficiaries. Most likely, the beneficiaries will be those who are in dire need.

This is on top of the medical assistance they can get from the City’s Hospitalization Assistance and Medicines Program.

“Kahibalo na sila na dili tanan matagaan, nevertheless, this is good news,” Ocampo said.

During the assembly, Mayor Michael Rama announced that the P3,000-financial assistance for senior citizens will be released starting December 4 in time for the Christmas season.

They have already received their P2,000 birthday bonus by middle of this year so the rest will be released on December.

Mayor Rama, in his message, told the senior citizens to continue participating in community building despite their age. He said that reaching the seniority age does not mean they can no longer participate in nation-building, which is why they are organized and empowered by the government.

Among the special guests was Cardinal Ricardo J. Vidal who was the keynote speaker.

Vidal, who turned 80 years old last February, told his fellow senior citizens to continue dreaming and not lose hope because the Lord has not left them.

“Muingon ko kaninyo, dili unta ta mohunong pagdamgo alang sa umaabot. Apan kung magdamgo man gani ta, kana lang sab nga mahimo pang matuman sigun sa atong pangidaron,” Vidal said. 

He also reminded them to take care of their health more than anything else because the body weakens as they age.

“Bisan maningkamot kita nga mahatagan ug saktong pension or suporta, musalig usab kita sa kamanggihatagon sa Dios. Magpuyo kita ug yanong kinabuhi ug musalig kita nga ang Dios, dili gayod mubiya sa iyang katawhan,” Vidal said.

The cardinal also told them to be thankful that they have reached their age.

Ocampo said that by third week of November, they expect to have a new OSCA head. (FREEMAN)