AID FOR ELDERLIES. Personnel of the Office of the Senior Citizens Affairs (OSCA) of Cebu City are seen conducting house to house distribution of PHP3,000 financial assistance to the city's senior citizens in Barangay Busay, Cebu City on Tuesday (Sept. 8, 2020). Mayor Edgardo Labella said in a presser he is bent on modernizing the distribution of cash aid to senior citizens through cash card to be issued by the Land Bank of the Philippines, to prevent them from contracting Covid-19. (Photo courtesy of Yody Sanchez)
CEBU CITY – Senior citizens here will soon get their financial assistance from the Cebu City Hall through a cash card to be issued by a government depositary, Mayor Edgardo Labella said on Tuesday.
In a presser, he said the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) has affirmed the intention of the city government to distribute the cash aid for the city elderlies through their cash card.
”In principle, Landbank agreed to course through the financial aid for the senior citizens with their cash card system. We will no longer distribute cash physically to them because we can really see the problem although there are places where the distribution is orderly many really violate the protocol against mass gathering,” Labella said.
The mayor said issuance of cash cards for the elderlies will be for free.
He designated Roberto Varquez, a Cebu City Hall consultant, to lead the transition for the distribution of aid to senior citizens via cash card.
On Tuesday, Varquez met with city attorney Rey Gealon, Councilor Raymond Alvin Garcia, the chair of the committee on budget in the City Council, and other department heads to set the parameters in the new procedure in giving out the cash assistance for the elderlies.
Varquez, for his part, expressed confidence that they can start distributing the cash card in the first week of December.
This, he said, if the necessary requirements and the senior citizen’s information will be consolidated in the database which are needed for the printing of the cash card that can be used to withdraw the cash aid through the automated teller machines (ATM).
Labella said he is bent on modernizing the financial assistance distribution to the senior citizens to prevent them from jam-packing during giving out activities in the barangays or in sports gymnasiums.
The new system will also avoid transmission of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) which posed a threat to elderlies, especially those who have comorbidities due to old age.
Also on Tuesday, the city’s Office of the Senior Citizens Affairs distributed PHP3,000 financial assistance to the elderly through house-to-house delivery in different barangays here. (PNA)
