Misamis Oriental — The Department of Social Welfare and Development recently handed in a total of P580,500 to 387 indigent senior citizens in Jasaan this province as their social pension for the last three months.

The Social Pension program implemented by the DSWD is the national government’s response to the needs of the indgent senior citizens under Republic Act 9994.

Atty. Araceli F. Solamillo, Regional Director of the DSWD, says that indigent senior citizens are paid a monthly stipend of P500 for their daily needs such as medicine and food among others. “We believe that P500 is only very minimal as this has to do with our limited budget allocated for such program,” Solamillo says, “yet DSWD is still working with the legislative body on increasing the budget for such program to either increase the amount or decrease its age coverage.”

Qualified beneficiaries for the social pension program are those senior citizens who are 65 years old and above, and who are also included in the Listahanan, also known as the National Household Targeting System of the DSWD, or those who do not have sources of income, and are not recipients of other pension programs.

Written by Charmaine P. Tadlas, DSWD