UP AND ABOUT. Basilisa Codera, 89, joins the queue of elderly residents at the Lahug Elementary School in Cebu City. (CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)
Retirement bliss may turn to blues for elderly residents of Cebu City after a plan to forfeit a portion of their cash allowances was revealed yesterday.
A leader of a senior citizens group said that weeks before yesterday’s distribution of the fourth installment of the P12,000 cash allowances to the elderly, the Office of the Senior Citizens Affairs (Osca) distributed copies of a manifesto that signifies the elderly’s “initiative” to help in the reconstruction of the Cebu City Medical Center.
According to Nador Barte, president of the senior citizens association in barangay Banilad, the document was distributed to them by the Osca in a meeting last Sept. 26 at the Cebu City hall.
The one-page document, titled “Manifesto of Support for the Construction of the New Cebu City Medical Center” signifies that the beneficiaries are “amenable to donate P100 million of the P720 million appropriation for financial assistance to Cebu City Senior Citizens for year 2014 for the construction of the new Cebu City Medical Center”.
This means, each of the 60,000 elderly beneficiaries would forfeit at least P1,700 as their “donation” to the planned construction of a geriatric section of the CCMC.
The amount would be deducted from the remaining balance of P5,000 which City Hall is obligated to give away this year. City Hall has so far disbursed P7,000.
Mayor Michael Rama in an earlier interview said that City Hall may opt not to give the P5,000 balance. He said they’re planning to just give away non-cash benefit assistance.
Yesterday, the mayor said he also heard about the proposal to tap the senior citizens assistance fund for the construction of a geriatric section for the new CCMC.
“Kung P200 ra unta dili ra kaayo sakit unya makatabang pa ta sa gobyerno pero dili ingon ana ka daku (It would have been OK if the amount was just P200. We’ll gladly be helping the government, but not with that big amount,” he told Cebu Daily News.
Barte said that like many of the cash dole out beneficiaries, he has allocated the P12,000 for his medicines for diabetes, cholesterol and allergies.
After getting wind of how much he stands to lose with City Hall’s planned scheme, Barte said he refused to sign the manifesto.
He claimed that he also spoke to other chapter presidents who also expressed opposition to the scheme.
Barte said it was OSCA head Rolando Llaguno who initially broached the idea to rally the senior citizens in helping raise funds for the CCMC reconstruction during their meeting in March 14.
He again reportedly raised the proposal in their July 31 meeting, but this time he allegedly toyed with the idea of asking the senior citizens for a P200 donation pledge each.
In the Sept. 26 meeting, Osca allegedly distributed the manifesto and asked the chapter heads to circulate the document to their members and have it signed before the end of October.
Llaguno could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Councilor Margot Osmeña, head of the City Council’s budget and finance committee, said asking the senior citizens to forfeit their allowances to make a donation “does not sound right.”
“Donations should be made voluntary not mandatory,” she said.
Osmeña said that the P720 million allocation for senior citizens should not be used for another purpose.
“I think the best thing to do is to give the money to the seniors and let them decide if they will make a donation to CCMC. This way, proper receipts will be issued to the donor. But do not make it mandatory,” she said./with a report from Reporter Jose Santino Bunachita