Seniors’ P2,000 Cash Assistance Set for Release

Each of the over 60,000 senior citizens in Cebu City will receive another P2,000 of cash assistance from the city government on Friday and Saturday.

Mayor Michael Rama had allocated P120 million for the distribution to the senior citizens only for this weekend, but each of the seniors in the city still has P4,000 remaining balance of cash assistance for this year.

Rolando “Dodong” Llaguno, head of the Office of the Senior Citizens Affairs (OSCA) of the Cebu City government explained that the mayor had decided to release the balance on December so the seniors will have a sort of Christmas gifts.

Rama recalled that the giving of cash incentives to the senior citizens that started during the administration of then mayor Tomas R. Osmeña was intended as their birthday and Christmas gifts.

When the city released the cash incentives to the seniors last March 25 and 26, there were 56,516 of the 59,285 senior citizens registered by OSCA who collected their benefits, while the 2,769 failed to claim their share.

But Llaguno said there are more senior citizens who applied for the cash incentives that is why the number had already reached to over 60,000.

The Cebu City Council had approved P600 million allocation in the 2013 Annual Budget for the granting of cash assistance at P10,000 to each of the senior citizens.

The City Council had earlier asked the mayor to release the remaining balance of the senior citizens’ cash assistance because the elderly persons already need it for their maintenance drugs.