Cebu City senior citizens go to barangay halls to collect the last tranche of P3,000 cash aid from the local government which allocates P12,000 a year per senior. (CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)
Over 60,000 senior citizens of Cebu City started claiming the last tranche of P3,000 as aid from the Cebu city government in their barangays.
This was the sixth round of distribution of cash aid this year for a total of P12,000.
They received P1,000 in January and P2,000 for each month of April, July, September and October.
For 2015, the allocation for senior citizens reached over P720 million.
Crispin Cesilac, 69, said the cash aid helped him get through the whole year.
“It’s exhausting to be old because it’s hard for us to find jobs. The aid given to us is a big contribution from the government. The administration has served and cared for us, senior citizens, from the very beginning,” said Cesilac in Cebuano.
Cesilac said he used the money to buy maintenance medicines for his arthritis.
“I hope the future administration will continue this program.
This has helped many of us in adjusting to the increasing prices of our needs,” he added.
City Treasurer Diwa Cuevas said that senior citizens have 15 days or until December 30 to claim their cash aid in Plaza Sugbo in front of City Hall.
Cuevas said the local government has to return all unused funds to the city treasury for reallocation for future projects when the year ends.
“The senior citizens have to understand that we cannot hold the money for them forever. If they don’t claim it within the deadline, the aid will have to be revoked,” said Cuevas.
In the five previous distributions this year, over P10 million of cash aid for senior citizens remained unclaimed.
According to data of disbursing officer May Bagano, average of over 5,000 senior citizens dont come forward to claim their subsidy.
Some of them may have passed away or are not in Cebu City during the schedule of distribution of the cash assistance.