Cebu Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale (right) hands the check worth P50,000 to centenarian Andrica Padigos.
CDN PHOTO/MOREXETTE ERRAM
A CENTURY-old resident of Sitio Iba, Barangay Lagtang in Talisay City received P50,000 cash from the province in simple rites at the office of Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale yesterday.
Andrica Padigos marked her 102nd birthday at the vice governor’s office by receiving the cash gift in line with Republic Act 10868 or the Centenarians Act of 2016.
The law mandates local governments to grant benefits and privileges to Filipino centenarians, or those who manage to reach 100 years old.
Centenarians are entitled to receive P100, 000 as cash gift from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) along with a letter of felicitation signed by President Rodrigo Duterte.
A plaque of recognition and a cash incentive with the amount to be determined by the local government is also given to the centenarian by the city or town she lives in.
Padigos told reporters that God helped her to live for more than a century.
She also credits her long life to her vegetarian diet.
While she prefers not to visit doctors, Padigos uses herbs for medication.
Among these herbs are the euphorbia plant locally known as mangagaw and goose grass or bila-bila.
She didn’t go to school, but Padigos frequently read the church novena.
“Nakakat-on ra ko ug basa tungod kay tigbasa ko sa novena sukad pagkabata (I learned how to read because I’m the one reading the church’s novena since I was a child),” she said.
Padigos has seven children, three of whom died of old age.
Her husband, a farmer named Constancio Padigos, died five years ago.