SENIOR citizens in Mandaue City, Cebu would now have to go directly to distribution sites to get their cash assistance.
This, as the Mandaue City Government announced that the first tranche of the cash aid for senior citizens in the city would only be given on distribution sites, not through ATM cards.
Councilor Jimmy Lumapas, chairman of the City Council Committee on Social and Services, told reporters Monday, April 23, 2023, that they stopped giving the aid through ATMs to sort the number of senior citizens who are actually living in the city from those who are not in Mandaue.
Lumapas said many of Mandaue's senior beneficiaries accepting their cash assistance through ATMs do not actually live in the city.
Among the city's requirements emphasized under an ordinance for the cash aid is that the senior citizen must be a resident of Mandaue and passed the physical validation by its Office of the Senior Citizens Affairs (Osca).
"We're starting to look for these people to get a little bit of the inflated budget for the senior citizens," said Lumapas.
Diosdado Suico, head of Osca, added that they had been getting several complaints from senior citizens who had not received cash on their ATMs, while some were unable to benefit from the aid, as their family members withdrew the money or kept the assistance in their personal ATMs on their behalf.
Lumapas said the distribution through ATM will be on hold until they find a solution to problems associated with it.
The distribution of the first tranche of the cash aid has been set on Wednesday, April 26. It will be simultaneously given in different distribution sites in Mandaue.
For the first batch, Barangays Centro, Guizo, and Mantuyong will release the cash assistance at the Mandaue City Sports and Cultural Complex, while Barangay Pagsabungan will hold the distribution in its barangay gym.
Lumapas advised beneficiaries and their kin to be updated by monitoring his Facebook page for schedules and venues of the distribution.
Beneficiaries would have to bring two photocopies of their official senior ID with three specimen signature, while those who could not sign could provide a thumbmark with two witnesses who can affix their signatures above their names.
For those bedridden, the respective barangay personnel will go house to house to distribute the cash. (HIC)