Many of them had to skip breakfast and lunch. One senior citizen fell in a canal. Some fainted because of the heat waiting to collect their cash allowance from the Toledo city government. They were also made to shell out P50 each for the “snacks” of authorities.
This was the scene at the barangay Don Andres Soriano (DAS) public market in Toledo City where 1,628 senior citizens received for the first time their P2,500-cash aid from the city government.
They waited under the sun outside the market treasurer’s office beginning early yesterday morning.
Although grateful for the assistance, the distribution was was very disorderly (“gubot pas lukot”), said several elderly residents.
The barangay sent an ambulance to the distribution area. Police had to pacify impatient senior citizens who were grumbling as they waited for their turn to receive the money.
Vicente Taping, president of the local senior citizens’ association, said that they had planned a system for orderly distribution of cash but this was disregarded by the city treasurer’s office.
Taping said he spoke a week ago with barangay captain Jeffrey Cabrera about this but still, no barangay tanods were deployed to monitor the situation.
Don Andres Soriano is one of the most populated areas in Toledo City so it was chosen as the first area of distribution to be followed by barangay Poblacion.
At around 11 a.m., Toledo City Mayor John Henry “Sonny” Osmeña visited DAS but did not stay long as senior citizens started to crowd around him.
The mayor saw that the place was unsafe, so he ordered Taping to transfer the distribution to the senior citizens’ office next the market’s treasury office.
He also scolded Taping for collecting P50 from each senior citizen and ordered him to return the money.
Taping told Cebu Daily News the money collected was intended for the snacks of the police, barangay tanods and the paymaster. He said most of the senior citizens had signed their agreement to this arrangement the day before the distribution of cash.
With the mayor’s order, he said he will return the money but if some senior citizens will no longer get their P50, this will be deposited as funds for their organization.
Solfa Bayang, 71, got hold of her P2,500 at around 3 p.m. She skipped her meals for the day because of the long wait, but said she was happy with the amount which is more than the P300 assistance the city handed out in the previous years.She said she would spend it on medicine. Distribution lasted into the evening.
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