Fifteen nonagenarians received PHP5,000 additional cash gift from their barangay in Pasig City.

Barangay San Antonio chairman Raymond Lising said this cash gift to elderly residents who are 90 years old and older is on top of the PHP1,000 mid-year cash gift that is distributed to its senior citizens or those who have reached the age of 60 and above.

“This is a one-time cash gift presented to them. Next year those who will reach 90 years old will be presented with the same (PHP5,000) cash gift,” he said.

Lising said they want elderly residents to feel that they are valued and important that is why they came up with the PHP5,000 additional cash gift for nonagenarians in Barangay San Antonio.

“The only qualification is that they need to be registered voters, because that is the only way the barangay can validate if they are residents of Barangay San Antonio,” Lising said.

Due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, village personnel delivered to the homes of 15 nonagenarians their cash gifts.

The senior residents of Barangay San Antonio started receiving their PHP1,000 mid-year cash gifts only last year when Lising assumed chairmanship of the barangay. The cash incentive is being distributed every July 15 of the year.

“We currently have 750 registered senior citizens in our barangay, and 90 percent of them have already received the mid-year cash gift,” he said.

Lising explained that at least 10 percent of them have not yet received their cash gifts “because they could have been stranded in the provinces or other places due to the lockdown,”

“They still could get this by coordinating with the barangay so that we could deliver it to them,” he added.

The distribution of cash gift and incentives to senior citizen is being extended in cooperation with the Senior Citizens Association and Barangay San Antonio council.

As part of the new normal, Lising said they are hoping to distribute the cash gifts through electronic-money (e-money) transfer system not only as safety measure against the spread of Covid-19 but is also a convenient way for the senior citizens to claim their benefit.

“They have contributed a lot to our local economy when they were still young that’s why we should pamper them now. This is our little way of showing that we appreciate their contributions to our barangay,” he added.

Usually, towns and cities have their respective ordinances granting cash gifts to senior citizens, especially centenarians who under the law are mandated to receive PHP100,000 cash gift from the Department of Social Welfare and Development — in compliance with Republic Act 10868 or Centenarians Act of 2016 — upon reaching 100 years old. (PNA)