BY JEN BAYLON
CAPIZ – Indigent senior citizens from Tapaz and Jamindan towns in Capiz received their social pension from the Department of Social Welfare and Development recently.
Facilitated by the local government units, a total of 4,574 elderly individuals from 58 barangays in Tapaz received pensions for the first semester of this year, from January to June. Each pensioner received P6,000, totaling almost P27,444,000 in grants distributed.
Meanwhile, Jamindan has 2,074 beneficiaries across its 30 barangays.
Enacted in July 2022, the stipend for the elderly has been increased by 100 percent, or from P500 to P1,000 monthly, under Republic Act 11916, or “An Act Increasing the Social Pension of Indigent Senior Citizens and Appropriating Funds.”
The Social Pension for Indigent Senior Citizens program aims to enhance the quality of life for eligible indigent senior citizens by augmenting their daily subsistence and medical needs, mitigating hunger, and safeguarding them from neglect, abuse, or deprivation. The program extends its coverage to indigent senior citizens without a stable income, lacking regular support from family or relatives, or not receiving pensions from other institutions./PN
