A valid non-Cebuano senior citizen's report

While examining merchandise at a mall few days ago, I was approached, very politely, by an elderly gentleman. He introduced himself as a fellow old fogey, now residing in Cebu City and enjoying, like me, the cash gift the city has allocated for senior citizens. In his prime years though, he exercised a profession that he claimed should be considered to be among the noblest. As a teacher in an island province, he helped mold the minds of young people, many of whom eventually practiced various disciplines. He is in our city to reside with one of his children who is working here.

I could second guess the purpose of his rather round-about way of introducing himself. Only few days earlier, I grappled with the sensitive issue as I wrote about the cash gift provided by the city to senior citizens. It was, to me, sensitive because I remember having ended that column with a suggestion that the city council should revisit the ratio legis of the cash gift ordinance. In all probability, he read that article and his feelings on the subject brought him face to face with me.

That gentleman spoke about what he perceived to be the idea behind my write-up, obviously without any inkling on my part that it could hurt some sentiments. Did I suggest to Sanggunian Panlungsod of Cebu City to include only the senior citizens who spent a part of their productive years in the city? It was a question that needed quite a lengthy discussion.

In a manner of speaking, that was the concept of my written suggestion to the honorable members of the city council. It would be the height of dishonesty to deny it and I never entertained the thought of denying it. The elderly in our midst, who, at any part of their lives, contributed to the growth of our city, no matter how modestly, should be the recipient of the cash gift. Differently stated, the cash gift given by the city should not be allocated to senior citizens who devoted the whole of their active lives far and away from our city.

In understanding the gentleman's position, I tried to make him consider that revisiting the ordinance should not be viewed as a form of selfishness. If the cash gift was a kind of payback, then it should be understood in the limited context that the cash funneled back only to those who gave a part of themselves to the city.

Here, at this instance and using his own personal situation as a counter-argument, the gentleman made a point. His confession, a testimony of some kind, bore some weight. He had not been here in our city. That should not be disputed. Until few years ago when he came to Cebu as a retired professional, the island province, not Cebu City, was, admittedly, his home. It was there where spent his lifetime.

But, he was quick to say that of the greater bulk of the men and women who came under his tutelage, many are practicing here and in effect, contributing to our city's growth and development. He was a part of those who molded their minds into becoming professionals useful to us in our metropolis. His contribution to our city might be indirect, but, this should also be discernible and appreciated.

If our city councilors should indeed find time to study the ordinance providing cash gift to our senior citizens, they have a serious subject at hand, one that demands Solomonic wisdom. They cannot just take for granted the presence of the elderly in our city and deny them any kind of cash assistance by the claim that they did not help make our city what it may now be because realistically, they also may truly be in need of help. Neither can our honorable local legislators completely disregard the argument that the public nature of the city's tax coffers should primarily be used for the very taxpayers responsible for pooling them together.

However our sanggunian members view this issue, they cannot postpone any decision much further. In act, they need to act now.