THE Office for Senior Citizens Affairs (Osca) in Cebu City is now intensifying the “cleansing” of its list of members to rid it of those who have already died but are still included in the list of those to receive the city’s yearly financial aid.
Osca head Vicente Esmeña said Thursday, Sept. 22, 2022, that City Hall personnel are now conducting inspections in the city’s 80 barangays to determine if registered senior citizens living there are alive or dead.
Esmeña said through these inspections, they will be able to provide an updated master list of registered senior citizens to the City as basis for future cash aid distributions.
According to Esmeña, they are giving the validators two weeks to fully cleanse the list of senior citizens from ineligible beneficiaries.
The Osca’s cleansing operations were made following reports that “dead” claimants were able to claim the city’s financial aid for seniors.
The reports prompted Mayor Michael Rama to threaten officials involved in the controversy with possible termination.
Esmeñe admitted that dead senior citizens would sometimes be included in the list due to the lengthy process of preparing the list of qualified elderly.
“Dili nato kalikayan kay kanang pagbutang sa payroll, usahay man gyud naay panahon nga sa pagbuhat sa payroll, mamatay ang senior citizen,” said Esmeña.
(We couldn’t avoid putting already dead seniors on the payroll as some seniors would die just after the payroll is prepared.)
Next payout
Esmeña said they are now waiting for the budget appropriation from the City Council for the release of the cash aid for September.
However, he added that there is a possibility that this month, October, November, and December’s financial assistance will be given in bulk.
Qualified elderly are entitled to receive P1,000 per month in financial assistance, but it has been a practice for the cash aid to be given in bulk every two or three months.
Esmeña further said that the city government will no longer use cash cards in handing out the cash aid.
The senior citizens are also given 10 days from the first day of distribution to claim their financial assistance, he added.