After error trimmed list: “Delisted” seniorsstill get cash aid

CEBU, Philippines - After a glitch wiped the names of thousands of senior citizens from the list of beneficiaries of the Senior Citizens Financial Assistance Program, the Cebu City government assured that no one has been delisted from the master list.

The city said that senior citizens whose names are not in the printed list distributed to the barangays last week, but were able to receive their financial assistance last June, will still receive the second half of their P7,000 cash assistance next month.

Philip Zafra, chief of staff of Mayor Michael Rama, said the disappearance of the names of thousands of senior citizens from the list was because of a computer error.

Almost all barangays complained that the names of many of their senior citizens are missing from the list of those set to receive the P4,000 cash assistance on December.

The Office of the Senior Citizens Affair finalized last week the list of senior citizens to benefit from the financial assistance program.  OSCA clerks then printed a copy for distribution to all 80 barangays.

But Zafra said that when one of the personnel was printing the list, the computer he was using crashed.  He said the file must have been corrupted in the process.

“Wala na nila na-check after na-print. Gidiretso na nila’g distribute sa barangay. We admit it was a lapse on the part of the city government,” he said.

But he assured that only the printed copy that was distributed to the barangays was incorrect.

The OSCA office, he said, secures the ‘Alpha List’ or the final master list of the beneficiaries of the program.

“Our OSCA head Rolando Llaguno and our in-charge from the Mayor’s Office Mrs. Perla Ortega are working overtime to fix this mess,” Zafra said.

Among the barangays that complained about the delisted senior citizens are barangays Tejero, Guadalupe, Sta. Cruz, Kalunasan, Cogon-Ramos, Zapatera, Sawang Calero and Lorega.

Tejero councilman Garry Lao said almost 200 of their senior citizens, including his father and other relatives, were not in the list provided to the barangay for reference.

“Last Thursday, Barangay Councilman Rudy Albaño, who is the chairman of the senior citizen, received from OSCA a master list of our barangay the names of senior citizens. Upon verification and validation, there are names from the previous list that were no longer in the present list,” Lao said.

Almost 2,000 senior citizens were reportedly delisted in Barangay Guadalupe, almost 300 in Kalunasan, over 100 in Cogon-Ramos and Lorega and about 30 in Sawang Calero.

Zafra appealed to some barangays to refrain from immediately jumping to conclusions that the delisting was intentional and politically motivated.  He belied any political color in the error.

“Halos tanan man ang naapektuhan.  Rest assured that it was only a clerical error. Those who received last June will receive next month,” Zafra said.

There are over 50,000 registered beneficiaries of the senior citizens financial assistance program. Last June, they received P3,000 of their originally P5,000 annual assistance.

Mayor Michael Rama added an additional P2,000 which made their annual assistance at P7,000 this year.  The Cebu City Council approved last week the Supplemental Budget No. 2 where the mayor included P50 million needed for the P2,000 increase. —/BRP (FREEMAN)