Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella said they will have to wait for authority from the Bureau of Local Government Finance (BLGF) and the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) before they could resume the distribution of seniors’ cash aid. / CDN File Photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Please be patient.
This was the appeal of Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella to the more than 75, 000 registered senior citizens in the city who continue to wait for the release of their monthly financial aid from City Hall.
Labella said he is still waiting for authority from the Bureau of Local Government Finance (BLGF) and the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) before they could start to process the disbursement of the cash aid.
Cebu City last released the P1, 000 monthly aid for senior citizens in June and before former mayor Tomas Osmeña left City Hall.
Labella said that since the Osmeña administration only set aside an allocation for seniors aid to cover the months of January to June, they will have to ask BLGF and DILG to authorize his City Treasurer Jerone Castillo to disburse additional allocation that will cover the months of July to December 2019.
As soon as he receives the BLGF and DILG authority, Labella said “we will submit another supplemental budget for the financial aid of the senior citizens.”
If everything would go as planned, Labella said they could already release P2, 000 cash assistance to the senior citizens later this month to cover their aid for the months of July and August.
“In fact, I will follow it up siguro on Monday in Manila that it will (already) be approved. They promised it would be approved last Wednesday, but wala man gihapon,” said Labella.
(I will make a follow up with the (LBGF and DILG head offices in) Manila if our request had already been approved. They promised to have it approved on Wednesday but this have not been done yet.)
Senior citizens in Cebu City get a cash aid of P12, 000 per year that is released at P1, 000 per month. Distributions are normally made at the sports complex of the city’s 80 barangays. /dcb