SENIOR citizens in Cebu City may expect to receive the next tranche of their financial assistance from City Hall within the week.
“They will definitely get their financial assistance within the week because we know they’ve been waiting for this. The money is there and the city treasurer will make an announcement tomorrow (Monday) on when is the exact distribution and other additional instructions,” Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama said in a phone interview yesterday.
This week’s tranche is the fifth to be given this year after January, April, July, and September.
A police officer stand guard as Hundreds of Senior Citizens line up to collect their P2,000 financial assistance from the Cebu City government at the Mabolo Elementary School Cultural complex. (CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)
Rama earlier promised that unlike previous years, the city will be able to hand out the entire P12,000 cash assistance to the elderly within the year.
The Cebu City Council approved the amended guidelines and procedures in the distribution of financial assistance to qualified senior citizens in the city.
Among the changes is that those who fail to claim their financial assistance for two consecutive times will be deleted from the city’s list of qualified senior citizens.
They may re-apply with the Department of Social Welfare and Services (DSWS) as a new applicant.
But if they again fail to claim their assistance for another two consecutive tranches, then they won’t be allowed to re-apply for the assistance.
“(This will) prevent manipulation of the program by unscrupulous elements of the society and to delete from the payroll master list those senior citizens who have died and those who failed to claim their financial assistance,” read the resolution authored by Councilor Lea Japson.
The council’s approval of the amendment was based on a September 24 resolution by the Cebu City Senior Citizens Council.
A grievance committee will also be formed to settle any qualification issues.
It will be composed of the head of the Office of the Senior Citizens Affairs (OSCA), DSWS head and the Cebu City office director of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG)./Reporter Jose Santino S. Bunachita