ILOILO CITY – The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in Region 6 (Western Visayas) has reached 80 percent of its target beneficiaries for the payout of the first quarter social pension for indigent senior citizens.
On Thursday’s virtual presser, Ma. Evelyn Macapobre, DSWD Region 6 director, said 291,080 indigent senior citizens have already received their PHP3,000 stipend for the first quarter of 2020.
This is equivalent to a total payout of PHP873.2 million, she said.
DSWD targets a total of 365,908 indigent elderly beneficiaries in the region.
She added that DSWD has tapped the help of local government units in the distribution of the social pension to ensure its speedy distribution during the community quarantine.
Macapobre said the budgeting cycle of the department takes a year thus newly-listed elderly individuals at the local government unit are not immediately provided with pension.
“The names of the senior citizens need to be listed at the local government unit which will be responsible to forward the names to us. We use the list as a basis when we make our budget for next year,” she said.
While the department also wants to include all indigent senior citizens to the program, Macapobre said that they follow slots provided by the government.
Western Visayas has the most number of social pensioners in the country, she said. “We have not stopped proposing for more slots for the social pension,” she added.
Based on the Omnibus Guidelines in the Implementation of the Social Pension for Indigent Senior Citizens, recipients are 60 years old and above; frail, sickly or with a disability; no pension from the Government Insurance System (GSIS), Social Security System (SSS), Philippine Veterans Affairs Office (PVAO), Armed Force and Police Mutual Benefit Association, Inc. or any other insurance company; no permanent source of income, and have no regular support from family or relatives for his or her basic needs. (PNA)