THE Bacolod City Council has approved a resolution requesting Mayor Greg Gasataya to implement the social pension for persons with disability under City Ordinance 1010, series of 2022, or the Bacolod Social Pension for Seniors and PWDs Ordinance.
The resolution was authored by Council Caesar Distrito, chairperson of the City Council committee on persons with disability (PWD) affairs.
Distrito said City Ordinance 1010 mandates for the granting of monthly financial assistance of P500 to target beneficiaries such as senior citizens and PWDs.
He said the ordinance also provides that those who will be qualified to receive the financial assistance are senior citizens who are indigent, who do not receive any form of contributory pension from Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), Philippine Veterans Affairs Office (PVAO), Social Security System (SSS), and the Department of Social Services and Development (DSSD).
They should also have no permanent source of income, compensation or financial assistance from relatives to support their basic needs.
Common requirement for both senior citizens and PWDs is that they must be registered voters and residents of Bacolod City for at least a year, Distrito added.
Distrito noted that in 2024 and this year, the City Government of Bacolod distributed financial aids, through its Social Pension Program, to senior citizens from different barangays of the City.
“The social pension granted by the ordinance was already rolled out to its senior citizen beneficiaries. It is then imperative for the City Government to consider giving such assistance to our qualified PWD residents whom the ordinance also identified as recipients of the financial aid,” Distrito said.
He said the PWDs, same with the senior citizens, are among the sectors that the City Government give utmost importance, protection and support by creating programs that will uplift their prevailing conditions. (MAP)