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BY PRINCE GOLEZ, Manila Reporter
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MANILA – Appropriations for the law giving cash gift to Filipinos who reach the age of 100 have not been included in the proposed 2017 budget.
Republic Act 10868 grants centenarians P100,000 and a personal letter of felicitation from the President.
This is because former president Benigno Aquino III signed the law on June 23, only seven days before he turned over his duties to the new administration, said Senate Minority Leader Ralph Recto.
The country is also set to hold its first National Centenarians’ Day on Oct. 2.
Recto, bill author, said the cash gift can be awarded using the P4-billion savings of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
It may also be sourced from the President’s Contingent Fund, he added.
“For as long as the transfer complies with recent Supreme Court ruling on budget augmentation, I suggest that it should be pursued,” the lawmaker said.
DSWD said a budget of P355 million is needed for the cash gift of 3,553 centenarians.
The statistics could only be one-fourth of the actual number of Filipino centenarians, they said.
In 2013, Aquino vetoed the Centenarians Act because of a provision seeking to grant them 75-percent discount for purchases of goods and services./PN
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