ILOILO City – Membership to elderly organizations is not a requirement for senior citizens to avail themselves of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Region 6’s social pension program, according to Director Ma. Evelyn Macapobre.
“We respect the right of senior citizens to form organizations and become members of these groups. However, we want to clarify that DSWD Region 6 does not require membership to any organization for one to avail himself of the social pension program,” said Macapobre.
Macapobre she received reports that some elderly were told they needed to join organizations as one of the requirements for the social pension.
Having a senior citizen’s identification card is already sufficient for an elderly who personally claims the stipend, according to May Rago Castillo, DSWD-6 information officer.
Rago said qualifications for the program include the following:
* 60 years old and above,
* frail, sickly or with disability
* no pension from the Government Service Insurance System, Social Security System, Philippine Veterans Affairs Office, Armed Forces and Police Mutual Benefit Association, Inc. or any other insurance company
* no permanent source of income
* no regular support from family or relatives for his or her basic needs
“These are the only eligibility criteria for the social pension program. Nobody can compel the elderly to join an organization for the sake of receiving the pension,” said Macapobre.
The social pension for indigent senior citizens is a monthly stipend of P500 for a total of P3,000 per semester (P6,000 per year) to augment their daily subsistence and other medical needs.
This is in line with the full implementation of Republic Act No. 9994, or the Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010.
In Western Visayas, there are 365,908 elderly social pensioners.
For the second semester, as of Nov. 18, around 85 percent or 311,122 of the total target beneficiaries were already paid (totaling P933,366,000).
Of the 85 percent paid beneficiaries, 45,580 are from Aklan; 34,472 from Antique; 54,863 from Capiz; 12, 194 from Guimaras; 147,264 from Iloilo; 739 from Bacolod City; and 16, 010 from Negros Occidental.
For Iloilo City, meantime, the regional office is yet to download funds.
“We are optimistic that we will be able to complete the payout before the year ends,” said Macapobre./PN
