PIA Press Release
Sunday, May 08, 2011

Senior citizen’s social pension to be delivered house-to-house in Maasin City

by ES Gorne

SOUTHERN LEYTE, May 8 (PIA)– As soon as the final listing of the indigent senior citizens in Maasin City shall be validated, the delivery of their monthly social pension directly at their footsteps shall start anytime this month.

For a long time, the group of the elderly have been waiting for this monthly social pension subsidy to be implemented among those new provisions embodied in the expanded senior citizen’s act, Maasin City Social Welfare worker Felisa Diola, the senior citizen focal person, disclosed to PIA interview.

Diola further said that withdrawal of the senior citizens’ social pensions will no longer be thru the automated teller machines (ATMs) but will be delivered to each of the houses of the 142 listed indigent senior citizens in the city.

“It would no longer with the ATMs but the delivery of their social pensions checks will be right at their doorsteps,” Diola added.

According to Diola, the DSWD regional office will make the final validation of the listings of the 142 indigent senior citizens they have gathered thru the National Household Targetting System (NHTS) since there are allegations that among the list there are those who are not indigents at all, that others have monthly pensions and some whose names were incorrectly spelled out.

Diola added that MSWDO are now accepting for some indigent senior citizens who were not listed with the NHTS by accomplishing a social pension application form, however, among those in the new lists, there is no commitment from the MSWDO that they too can avail of the three-year monthly social pensions.

She added that the payment monthly social pensions of the indigent senior citizens shall be retroactive January 2011, however, it was further learned that the releases shall be made on the quarterly basis. ### (PIA SoLeyte/esg)