CEBU City Mayor Nestor Archival has vetoed a new rule that would have allowed family members to claim financial aid for bedridden senior citizens. The mayor warned that this "loophole" could easily lead to the misuse of public funds meant for the city’s elderly.
The vetoed provision was part of City Ordinance 2453. It would have allowed immediate family members to collect cash aid for seniors who are physically incapacitated, subject to verification by the Office of the Senior Citizens Affairs (Osca).
While Archival understood the council wanted to make claiming easier, he believed the risks were too high.
“My primary duty is to ensure that every peso of the City’s Social Amelioration Fund reaches its intended, living, and qualified beneficiaries,” the mayor said.
He stressed that requiring seniors to personally claim their money serves as a "periodic eligibility and welfare validation." “Without this interaction, the City cannot guarantee the integrity of the disbursement, leaving the system vulnerable to unauthorized claims,” the mayor added.
Instead of allowing family claims, Archival wants a safer, more controlled system. He recommended creating a house-to-house distribution system for bedridden seniors in Cebu City.
For beneficiaries whose conditions cannot be verified, he proposed putting their payouts on a temporary “holding status.” He also suggested that vacated slots on the cash aid list be automatically given to qualified seniors waiting in line.
The veto creates uncertainty for the city’s new quarterly payout scheme. Under the recently approved ordinance, qualified seniors are supposed to receive their P12,000 annual aid in smaller P3,000 chunks every three months.
During their session on Tuesday, April 14, the City Council was divided on what the veto actually meant. Some argued it killed the entire ordinance, while others believed it only canceled the family-claim rule.
The City Council has now turned to the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) for legal guidance. For now, Cebu City's 90,000 senior citizens will have to wait for leaders to agree on the best and safest way to deliver their much-needed financial assistance.