Valenzuela deploys seniors as school traffic aides

MANILA, Philippines - Instead of being idle all day, 71-year-old Crisostomo Duda will work as a school traffic aide at the Marulas Elementary School in Valenzuela City starting today.

He is the oldest of a traffic team for senior citizens, all 124 of them graduates of a three-day training program on traffic management and first aid rescue organized by the city government. They will be deployed as traffic aides at all public elementary and high schools in the city.

The school, where his fifth-grade twin grandchildren study, is within walking distance from his house.

The senior citizens’ traffic team, called “Bantay Estudyante,” was formed by the city government’s External Services Office (ESO) to give senior citizens an opportunity to earn and at the same time ensure the safety of schoolchildren.

Duda, who is also a purok (neighborhood) leader in Barangay Marulas, welcomes the opportunity given to senior citizens like him.

“It makes us feel that we are still useful in the community,” he said.

According to the ESO, the Bantay Estudyante traffic aides are required only at the start and end of classes for the day and they will work in shifts.

All graduates of the training program underwent physical and medical exams to determine if they were be fit to work, the ESO said.

Duda’s daughter, Cynthia Aquino, said her father is excited about the new job because it gives him a sense of self-respect and pride.

The ESO said that while most establishments in the country would post job advertisements with age requirements, they found a way to offer employment to senior citizens who are still fit to work and make them productive.