Senior citizens in Cebu City receive the P2,000 balance of the P12,000 assistance in 2014 and another P1,000 representing the first tranche of their cash gift for this year. (CDN PHOTO/ TONEE DESPOJO)
City Hall yesterday fulfilled its promise to give its elderly residents a happy new year after it disbursed the P2,000 balance of its welfare assistance for 2014 and the first P1,000 of its cash aid for this year.
Felisa Castanares said she is happy that she got an even bigger amount which she will use to buy her prescription medication for her arthritis and hypertension.
“This is a big help for me especially since I do not have a pension to rely on),” Castanares said in Cebuano.
The 91 year old worked as a maid and cook during her productive years and never had a chance to marry and raise her own family.
Despite having difficulty walking, Castanares with the aid of niece, Aiza, made it to the Guadalupe Sports Center where she collected her share at 10:30 a.m.
A City Hall staffer met her at the entrance and assisted her to a desk where she was handed a white envelope that contained the money.
After stepping out of the sports center, Castanares went to a fruit vendor and bought a kilo of mangoes as pasalubong for her grandchildren.
Traffic crawled along a portion of Vicente Rama Ave. where the sports center is located as motorists slowed down to give way to elderly pedestrians who trooped to the facility to collect their financial aid.
The Cebu City government gives away P12,000 to each qualified and registered senior citizen as part of its social welfare assistance program.
In a news conference at City Hall, Mayor Michael Rama said the additional P1,000 was meant to give the seniors “a certain level of surprise.”
Rama is qualified to receive the allowance after he turned 60 last October. He, however, has yet to claim his share.
He said he will donate his share to the ongoing campaign to raise funds for the construction of a new Cebu City Medical Center building.
He reiterated his call to senior citizen beneficiaries to donate part of their allowance to the CCMC fund.
The Office of Senior Citizens Affairs had earlier drafted a resolution which made the rounds of barangay-level senior citizens’ organizations authorizing the “donation” of a portion of the cash aid to the CCMC fund. The initiative was, however, met with heavy criticism from the public.