Manila, Philippines: Door-to-door delivery of monthly cash aid to elders is set to be implemented on September 2016, according to Noemee Jane Mayor, information officer of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in CALABARZON (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon).
Under the agency’s Social Pension for Indigent Senior Citizens program that started in 2011, people 60 years old and above who are not getting any government pension or regular income and support from relatives, are entitled to a P500 monthly cash aid. The pension is paid out quarterly through the Office of the Senior Citizens Affairs.
This system is designed in consideration to those cases where the elderly, particularly those who are sickly, do not have the strength anymore to go to the municipal hall themselves to claim their P500 pension. One such example is 75-year-old widow Jovita Bariring, who nurses a chronic back pain and further burdened by high cost of maintenance drugs. For her, traveling to the municipal hall is a pain in itself, giving her second thoughts about claiming the money intended to help her.
With this system, they wouldn’t have to go out of their houses and pay for the fare to the municipal hall.
So far, the door-to-door system is already being implemented in the CALABARZON and Central Luzon regions. The DSWD has partnered with the Philippine Veterans Bank (PVB) to make this system possible. To quell doubts as to the safety of the money during delivery, PVB senior vice president Vilma Noche cites the agreement that the bank has signed on August 15 ensuring a safe and timely delivery of the payouts by submitting reports to the DSWD to help monitor the conditions of the beneficiaries.
