SAN JOSE DE BUENAVISTA, Antique — Around 7,000 senior citizens of the province of Antique stand to benefit from a provincial ordinance that ensures their general welfare and development.
Provincial Ordinance 2018-144 provides the Death Assistance Fund to seniors aside from incorporating provisions of Republic Act Number 9257, or An Act Granting Additional Benefits and Privileges to Senior Citizens, and the recent Republic Act Number 9994, or the Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010.
Cirilo Baldestamon, a senior citizen who helped in the refinement of the ordinance, said in an interview Monday that among the benefits included in the local legislation is the establishment of this subsidy for senior citizens.
“The provincial government shall establish the Death Assistance Fund annually, which is equivalent to at least five per cent of the total number of senior citizens of the previous year multiplied by PHP2,000,” he said.
He added that through the Death Assistance Fund, the closest kin of a senior citizen who will die, will be given PHP2,000 by the Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office (PSWDO) that will initially manage the fund to help in the burial expenses.
“There are several seniors, who when they die, are really penniless and their family members do not know where to get the money to be spent for their burial,” Baldestamon said.
Board Member Fernando C. Corvera Sr., who is one of the sponsors, said the passage of the ordinance is a manifestation that the provincial government fully supports them.
“You now have more reasons to be happy about as you gather for your Senior Citizens Congress,” Corvera told the elderlies who gathered for their annual Congress at the Binirayan Gymnasium, Tuesday.
The provincial government has an existing program “Kabalaka sa Lolo kag Lola kang Probinsya” or Concern of the Provincial Government to the Grandparents. It provides economic assistance to satisfy their daily subsistence and medical needs in the amount of PHP2,000 to 85-89 years old, PHP3,000 to those 90-94 years old, and PHP5,000 to 95 to 99 years old and PHP30,000 to 100 years old and above.
The same assistance has been added into the ordinance to ensure its continuity.
Likewise, the PSWDO will formulate a simplified guideline to expedite the release of the Aid to Individuals in Crisis Situation to the elderlies.
Baldestamon said that the ordinance, approved last July 26 but still undergoing fine-tuning, will be published soon. ( Annabel Consuelo Petinglay/PNA)
