SAN JOSE, Antique – Around 7,000 senior citizens in Antique stand to benefit from a provincial ordinance that provides for a Death Assistance Fund.
The subsidy for the expenses in the aftermath of the death of a senior citizen is one of the benefits included in Provincial Ordinance 2018-144.
Under the Death Assistance Fund, the closest kin of a senior citizen who dies will be given P2,000.
“The provincial government shall establish the Death Assistance Fund annually, which is equivalent to at least 5 percent of the total number of senior citizens of the previous year multiplied by P2,000,” said Cirilo Baldestamon, a senior citizen who helped refine the local law.
The ordinance also incorporates provisions of Republic Act 9257, or An Act Granting Additional Benefits and Privileges to Senior Citizens, and Republic Act 9994, or the Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010.
“Some senior citizens are really penniless and, when they die, their families do not know where to get the money to be spent for their burial,” Baldestamon said.
Sangguniang Panlalawigan member Fernando C. Corvera Sr., one of the ordinance’s sponsors, told the recent Senior Citizens Congress at the Binirayan Gymnasium that the measure proves the capitol fully supports the elderly.
Capitol already has the program “Kabalaka sa Lolo kag Lola kang Probinsya,” which provides senior citizens financial assistance for their daily subsistence and medical needs. This assistance was incorporated into Provincial Ordinance 2018-144 as well.
Amounts include P2,000 for those 85 to 89 years old; P3,000 for 90 to 94 years old; P5,000 for 95 to 99 years old; and P30,000 for 100 years old and above.
Baldestamon said the ordinance, approved on July 26, undergoes further fine-tuning and will be published soon. (PNA)
