BY ADRIAN P. NEMES III
The Department of Social Welfare and Development in Western Visayas distributed P148,236,000 in social pension to 49,412 indigent senior citizens from Negros Occidental and Bacolod City for the second semester.
Of the amount, P140,097,000 was received by 46,699 recipients from towns and cities of the province, while the rest was given to 2,713 indigent senior citizens in Bacolod.
Under the Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010, senior citizens with no permanent sources of income or financial assistance and those who do not receive financial support from their families and relatives may qualify for the assistance.
Senior citizens who are frail, sickly, and do not receive pensions from Social Security System, Government Security Insurance System, Philippine Veterans Affairs Office, Armed Forces or Police Mutual Benefit Association, may also qualify for the grant.
LISTAHAN
Meanwhile, the DSWD 6 is now accepting complaints and appeals from those whose names were not included in their Listahan 3 project as part of their validation and finalization phase.
“Listahanan” is an information management system that aims to establish a database of poor households that will serve as the basis of DSWD in the identification of beneficiaries on its different social protection programs and services.
In a statement, DSWD 6 director, Ma. Evelyn Macapobre, reiterated that those whose names appear on the “listahan” database do not automatically receive aid or become beneficiaries in poverty alleviation programs, since there are qualifications and guidelines to be followed.
The Listahan area supervisors, in coordination with local officials, will receive queries and appeals, through the barangays in the region, from those who are considered poor but were not interviewed by the DSWD personnel and those who were interviewed but were excluded from the list. The agency will also entertain those who are not considered poor but were in the list, with incorrect information and those who moved to different addresses.*
