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Wednesday, April 12, 2017
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ILOILO City – Additional cash incentives to centenarians will depend on the availability of funds, according to Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog in response to an ordinance enacted by the Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) “honoring and granting of additional benefits and privileges to Ilonggo centenarians.”
The ordinance passed by the SP has yet to reach his office.
However, even without the local legislation, the city government already initiated the Centenarian Incentive Award that grants P10,000 each to elderly who reaches the age of 100 years old.
The fund is taken from the .5 percent share intended for senior citizens from the one percent of the city’s annual budget. The one percent share from the budget is mandatory. It is divided for persons with disability and the senior citizens.
Aside from the Centenarian Incentive Award, the fund intended for senior citizens is also being utilized for the local social pension of indigent elderly. Just last month, the city government completed the distribution of around P5 million for 10,000 indigent senior citizens.
The money, according to Elpidio D. Azuelo Jr. of the Office of the Senior Citizens Affairs Office (OSCA), was one half of what was allotted for the poorest of the poor senior citizens. The city government allots P1,000 annually for the target recipients.
“I’ll have it reviewed by our budget,” Mabilog said.
According to a study conducted prior to the provision of the local social pension, the city government can only afford P1,000, he explained.
However, he stressed that once the budget review shows that the city has fund, there is no question as to the granting of additional cash incentives.
“What is important is that it falls within the .5 percent share of the senior citizens,” he emphasized.
On April 4, Councilor Armand Parcon, chairperson of the SP Committee on Veterans, Retirees, Elderly and Disabled Persons, was able to get the nod of his colleagues for an ordinance appropriating P1 million annually for the additional cash incentives.
“There is a need to give tribute to Ilonggo centenarians who have spent their lifetime in contributing to nation building, it pays homage to life and longevity. The dwindling centenarian population, living to a hundred years is a milestone definitely worth the celebration,” said Parcon. (PNA/PN)
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