Three hundred indigent senior citizens of Dumaguete City, aged 77 years old and above, received recently P2,000 each from the Department of Social Welfare and Development in Region 7, sourced from the Bottom-Up Budgeting (BUB) of the national government.

City social welfare officer Carola Alquero said this year's recipients are indigent senior citizens who do not have pensions from the Social Security System, Government Service Insurance System and the like, and those not receiving a social pension of P500 per month.

About P500,000 was appropriated for the cash payout, including the city's counterpart of P100,000. The distribution was led by Mayor Manuel Sagarbarria, who said he wants to continue the program next year and lower the cut-off age to 65 years old.

The recipients come from 23 barangays of Dumaguete, except for Bunao, and barangays 2, 3, 4 ,5 ,6 and Poblacion 7.

Senior citizens federation president, George Villamor, said the 300 beneficiaries of the BUB funds are separate from the city's 450 social pensioners, who receive a monthly pension of P500 each.

Dumaguete City Local Government Operations officer Farah Gentuya said the BUB is part of the poverty reduction program of the national government, where planning and identification of projects start from the grassroots level, and with participation from nongovernment organizations, civil society groups, and peoples' organizations, and with counterpart funds from the concerned local government unit.

In Dumaguete, P15 million had been channeled to the city this year, and portion of the funding will benefit the senior citizens as identified by Villamor.

Sagarbarria said another P300,000 is ready for the livelihood projects of senior citizens in Dumaguete, and the purchase of tables and chairs to be distributed to different associations.

Meanwhile, senior citizens receiving a monthly pension of P500 each, will receive P1,500 from September 24-25, representing their pension from April to June, Villamor said.

The federation has 3,715 members, while the Office of the Senior Citizens Affairs has almost 13,000 members in Dumaguete City.*JG

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