ILOILO City – For this year as of Dec. 2, P1.4 billion has so far been released to 246,421 social pensioners in Western Visayas, according to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
The 246,421 is 70 percent of the 365,908 target beneficiaries of the national government’s Social Pension Program for Indigent Senior Citizens (SPISC) in the region, said Judith Tañate- Barredo, DSWD Region 6 social pension focal person.
“We hope to release the pension of the remaining beneficiaries before this year ends,” said Tañate- Barredo.
Under SPISC, a monthly stipend of P500 is released to an indigent senior citizen.
The senior citizen must have no permanent source of income and/or frail, sickly or with disability.
The social pension is released per semester or every six months, thus each beneficiary gets P3,000. The release was originally done every quarter but this was modified.
But in September this year, DSWD Region 6 started releasing P6,000 to each beneficiary covering a whole year of pension.
Even then, some pensioners complained not having received theirs. DSWD regional director Ma. Evelyn Macapobre said this was due to the revalidation of the list of beneficiaries by the department’s central office.
The list of qualified social pensioners was downloaded to regional offices in batches.
“We are waiting for more names of beneficiaries to be downloaded by our central office,” said Macapobre.
Senior citizens with regular support from their families or have pensions from the Social Security System, Government Service Insurance System and/or private offices are not eligible for the pension, she stressed./PN
