ALAMINOS–Seventy five poor senior citizens in this city each received last week a P1,500 stipend from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) as part of the agency’s Social Pension for Indigent Senior Citizens Program.

Under the program, mandated in Republic Act No. 9994 or the Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010, indigent elderly citizens, aged 77 and above, are entitled to a monthly stipend of P500 to augment their daily subsistence and medical needs.

The distributed amount covers the period January to March this year.

“This (stipend) is a small amount but it is of great help to our poor elderly constituents,” said Director Porfiria Bernardez of the DSWD central office.

Alaminos was one of the first local government units to submit the list of potential social pensioners.

The DSWD National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR) conducted the nationwide “household assessment” to determine names of senior citizens who are qualified to receive the monthly stipend.

Those “receiving pension from the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), Social Security System (SSS), Armed Forces Pension System and other private insurance companies, and those with permanent source of income or regular support from relatives” are not entitled to the stipend.

Qualified senior citizens not included in the NHTS-PR can apply at the Office of the Senior Citizens Affairs (OSCA), subject to assessment by the OSCA and the city or municipal social welfare and development offices.—LM

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