Deceased elders cannot get P4,000 cash assistance

CEBU, Philippines - Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña said the families of senior citizens who already died cannot receive the P4,000 cash assistance but they are still entitled to burial assistance from the city government.

Osmeña issued the clarification after families of senior citizens who died the past few months went home empty handed yesterday because the names of those deceased were already deleted from the lists of beneficiaries.

The mayor said the cash incentives are not transferable to the families of deceased senior citizens.

The number of elderly beneficiaries went down from 32,019 in 2009 to only 30,154 this year.

City Hall distributed P4,000 to each of the city’s 25,000 senior citizens late last year. But there were 7,019 senior citizens who received the amount last month, raising to 32,019 the number of beneficiaries.

Osmeña said he was glad upon seeing the happy faces of senior citizens who trooped to Plaza Sugbo yesterday to claim their cash assistance.

“Lipay g’yod kaayo mi nga nakadawat na usab og cash assistance gikan sa City Hall. Pasalamat g’yod mi ni Mayor Tommy,” said freelance broadcaster Boy Solomon of Barangay Guadalupe where Osmeña also lives.

South district congressional candidate Jonathan Guardo described the giving of assistance to the elderly as mere political gimmicks but said he is still glad that the elders have benefited from the project. (FREEMAN NEWS)