At least 557 indigent senior citizens happily received on Wednesday their six months’ worth of social pension from the national government.

Frail and bedridden, Lourdes Ritamal of Barangay Poblacion 1, Pagudpud town was among the beneficiaries who received PHP3,000 from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

With the assistance of the local government unit of Pagudpud, the DSWD personnel went house-to-house to personally distribute the social pension fund.

Under the Social Pension for Indigent Senior Citizens (SPISC) program, qualified indigent senior citizens receive a monthly stipend of PHP500 to help augment their daily subsistence and other medical needs.

At present, the DSWD releases the six months pension to 3.5 million beneficiaries nationwide.

In Ilocos Norte, “the social pension fund distribution to qualified senior citizens are now ongoing,” said Provincial Social Welfare and Development Officer Lilian Rin on Wednesday.

She said senior citizens can avail of the social pension from the government under the following conditions: They are frail and sickly, not receiving pension from the Social Security System (SSS), Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), and other insurance companies; they are not receiving assistance from their immediate family members; and they do not have resources to buy their basic needs.

Should there be senior citizens in the province who are eligible but not included in the list, Rin said they can still appeal to the Office of the Senior Citizens Affairs (OSCA), their local governments, and the nearest field office, which has jurisdiction over their areas, for assessment. (PNA)