More poor elders receive pension

CEBU, Philippines -  More poor senior citizens in Central Visayas are now receiving monthly social pension from DSWD.

Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD)-7  Specialist for Older Persons Artemia Degamo disclosed that about 14,164 senior citizens from the 132 towns and cities region-wide started receiving their monthly subsidy since January last year which is P500 per month or P1, 500 per quarter. 

The number of beneficiaries for the Social Pension Program increased this year by about 22% because of the additional 2,762 senior citizens all over the region.

DSWD-7 public information officer Jaybee Binghay said that priority is given by the government to indigent senior citizens who are 77 years old and above, frail, sickly or with disability, no permanent source of income, compensation or financial support from relatives for his basic needs and without pension.

Social Pension for Indigent Senior Citizens is one of the provisions stated under Section 5 of Republic Act 994 otherwise known as the Expanded Senior Citizen’s Act of 2010.

It is an additional government assistance program to augment the daily subsistence and other medical needs of indigent senior citizens, subject to review every two years by congress in consultation with the DSWD.

For this year, DSWD allocated a total of P84.9 million to serve all the identified pensioners.

The identification of potential senior citizens are based on the DSWD’s National Household Targeting System of Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR) data which was validated and verified by all local government units and the local offices of the Office of  Senior Citizen’s Affairs (OSCA).

Binghay advises senior citizens who are qualified but have not yet availed of the pension to approach the nearest Social Welfare Offices in their areas.  (FREEMAN)