Dumaguete elders want clarification on burial aid “reduction”

CEBU, Philippines – The more than 14,000 registered senior citizens in Dumaguete City wanted clarification on the intention of the City Council to slash the amount of burial assistance from P5,000 to P2,500, as provided for in Resolution 392.

A public hearing on the matter is scheduled today, January 27,  to thresh out issues regarding the measure even as the Office of the City Mayor was in a quandary on how to implement it without being entangled with auditing rules and procedures, considering that the burial aid was pegged at P5,000 ever since.

Mayor Manuel Sagarbarria, in a letter to the City Council, said he wanted clarification if a mere resolution has amendatory effect to the approved city’s P645-million annual budget for this year, which included P3.5 million appropriated as burial assistance for senior citizens at P5,000 each.

City Council Secretary Arthur Fran Tolcidas clarified that Resolution 392, authored by Councilor Nilo Sayson, was an offshoot to the proposal and suggestions made by the Office of the Senior Citizens Affairs, headed by its president George Villamor, during the deliberations of the annual budget last year.

It was Villamor who proposed to request for additional living allowance for all the registered senior citizens and it was approved during the deliberation to convert  half of the burial assistance into the so-called incentive allowance.

The point was for the senior citizens to enjoy half of their supposed burial allowance while they are still living.

Tolcidas said the burial allowance will remain as P5,000, only that the P2,500 will be granted as an incentive allowance, as provided for in Resolution 392.

In his opinion, Tolcidas said the passage of an ordinance would be the proper way to address this matter. (FREEMAN)