ILOILO CITY -- The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in Western Visayas is waiting for the memorandum of agreement (MOA) signed by the mayor of Iloilo City on the transfer of funds for the first-quarter pension of indigent senior citizens here.
The Sangguniang Panlungsod on Tuesday authorized Mayor Jose Espinosa III to enter into an agreement with DSWD-Western Visayas to facilitate the transfer of PHP19.8 million for January to March this year.
The MOA is necessary since the agreement signed in 2015 is set to expire this year. Together with the MOA, the city government also had to submit its liquidation report to the DSWD for the funds that were released for the third and last quarter of 2017.
Majority Floor Leader, Councilor Eduardo Peñaredondo, said the city had 13,190 indigent senior citizens receiving the PHP500 monthly pension, as mandated under Republic Act No. 9994 or the Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010.
The fund is intended “to augment their daily subsistence and medical needs,” he said.
Meantime, Elpidio Azuelo Jr., head of the Office of Senior Citizens Affairs (OSCA) of the city government, said the amount provided to them had really made an impact on the poorest of the poor in their sector.
He said the social pension was strictly for those who had no pension and not receiving support from members of their family or had no source of income.
Before they are admitted to the program, they have to present a certificate of indigency to support their claim that they belong to the poorest of the poor, he said. (PNA)
Photo by Perla Lena
