CEBU CITY, Feb 1 (PIA) --- For the 2015, the
Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) lowers the age
qualification for indigent senior citizens that will receive a social pension
from 77 years old to 65 years old.
DSWD-7 regional
director Mercedita Jabagat said the program’s new provision is
approved under the General Appropriations Act for CY 2015 and hopes more senior
citizens will benefit from it.
The social pension is
one of DSWD’s social protection programs that provides P500 monthly stipends
for eligible indigent senior citizens and those qualified are 65 years old and
above; frail, sickly or have disability; not receiving pension from Social
Security System (SSS), Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), or Veterans
Pension and do not have permanent source of income or regular support from
relatives, said DSWD-7 Information Officer for Listahanan/NHTS
Kerwin Macopia.
“The monthly
financial assistance aims to help them in their basic needs such as medicines
and food,” Macopia added.
Based on the
guidelines, being an active member of any senior citizens associations is not a
pre-requisite to avail the financial assistance from the department, Jabagat
said.
“I encourage the
public to report immediately to the City or Municipal Social Welfare and
Development Office or to the Regional Office if there are issues in the
implementation of the program,” she added.
Meanwhile, Local
Government Units (LGUs) can now also directly distribute the monthly
stipend to the indigent senior citizens whose names are officially listed
in the consolidated order of payment.
Macopia bared, there
are 34 LGUs currently that can distribute stipends to senior citizens for they
have no unliquidated funds from DSWD.
He added that for
2015, DSWD-7 added 18,258 social pensioners to the previous 34,792 with a total
of 53,050 beneficiaries for the program.
(mbcn/jsme/PIA7-Cebu/DSWD7)