A total of PHP124.608 million was paid by the Department of Social Services and Development (DSWD) to indigent senior citizens in Negros Occidental in 2019.
Records of the DSWD showed that 20,853 Negrenses aged 60 and above received social pensions during the period.
May Rago-Castillo, information officer of DSWD-Western Visayas, said on Monday the beneficiaries, who initially received the stipend, are those from 15 cities and municipalities in Negros Occidental.
“That’s around 50 percent of those in Negros Occidental,” Rago-Castillo said.
These include the cities of Bacolod, Cadiz, Sagay, Victorias, San Carlos, Talisay, Silay, and the municipalities of Murcia, Pulupandan, Cauayan, Salvador Benedicto, Manapla, Valladolid, San Enrique, and Hinigaran.
In these areas, there are still 4,144 beneficiaries who have yet to be paid. These are usually those who were not present during the pay-out schedules.
For the first quarter this year, to be paid are social pensioners from cities of Escalante, Bago, Himamaylan, Kabankalan, Sipalay, and towns of Toboso, Escalante, Calatrava, E.B. Magalona, Pontevedra, Moises Padilla, Isabela, La Castellana, Binalbagan, Hinobaan, Ilog, and Candoni,
Rago-Castillo said they aim to pay the remaining 24,997 social pensioners in these areas by the end of January.
“There’s a slight delay in the release of the social pension because we completed the revalidation and reassessment of social pensioners’ list only on June 20,” she added.
Starting 2019, the social pension is directly released by the DSWD to beneficiaries on a semestral basis.
Each pensioner receives PHP500 a month, or PHP6,000 a year.
The Social Pension Program is being implemented by the DSWD for indigent senior citizens to improve their condition by giving them subsidies they can use for their daily and medical needs.
Those who can avail of the pension program are elderly who are at least 60 years old, Filipino citizen, frail, sickly or with a disability, has no regular income or support from his family or relatives, and does not have any pension from any private or government institution.
(Nanette Guadalquiver pna via ndb)