The Department of Social Welfare and Development in Region VI has earmarked P5,292,000 for the social pension of 3,528 senior citizens in Negros Occidental for July to September, May Castillo, DSWD head for social marketing, said yesterday.

Castillo said local governments can now claim the social pensions for their identified indigent senior citizens aged 70 to 77 years old.

The DSWD social pension aims to improve the living conditions of beneficiaries, help them meet their medical needs, daily consumption, reduce hunger incidence, and protect them from deprivation, abuse, and neglect, she said.

In Western Visayas, the program caters to 15,743 beneficiaries from the six provinces-Negros Occidental, Iloilo with 6,021, Aklan 1,835, Antique 2,077, Guimaras 583, and Capiz 1,699 beneficiaries that amounted to P23,614,500 ready for release for this quarter, Castillo said.

Each beneficiary receives a monthly stipend of P500 that is given to them quarterly. In the first two quarters of 2012, DSWD VI released P47,229 million, she said.

The social pension is implemented through Republic Act 9994 or The Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010, Castillo said.

Castillo added that beneficiaries are identified through the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction.

Meanwhile, recipients in Negros Occidental increased by 26.22 percent over last year’s with only 2,838 pensioners. *LTG

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