Cash aid to elderly may not be given next week

CEBU, Philippines - Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama’s order to release the P4,000 cash incentives to each of the city’s 40,000 senior citizens may not be realized next week.

“This week nami nakasugod pag-submit sa payroll per barangay for processing sa accounting,” said Catherine Yso, the head of the Department of Social Welfare and Services (DSWS).

Yso has been ordered by Rama to coordinate with the treasurer’s office for the release of the incentives.

Yso said the more than 2,000 senior citizens who failed to avail of the cash incentives last year will receive their shares first.

She said they are trying their best to release the assistance next week. The city will be spending P160 million for the program.

Yso explained that they are carefully processing the payroll for the incentives to avoid a repetition of a mistake where dead beneficiaries received the assistance through their families.

The number of qualified beneficiaries for this year may reach to 40,000, as Rama has included in the program city residents who are 80 years old and above but who are not registered voters.

Rama explained that there are senior citizens who, because of old age, were not able to apply for the city’s financial assistance because they have long stopped participating in the elections.

Guillermo Casinillo, head of the Office of Senior Citizens Affairs (OSCA), said there are elderly persons in the mountain barangays who failed to vote in the past elections because of their health conditions.

Under the old procedures, only those senior citizens who are registered voters in the city can avail of the benefits.  (FREEMAN)