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By Belly M. Otordoz and Rogelio Limpin, Correspondents
LUCENA CITY: Senior citizens are thankful for
the few benefits they get, but they want all the privileges provided
by Republic Act 9257 or the Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2003.
Amado Sarmiento, the Senior Citizens Federation
president and chief of the Lucena Office of the Senior Citizen
Affairs, said the Federation officers have been trying to seek an
audience with Mayor Ramon Talaga Jr. to appeal for an increase of
their annual budget. But they cannot get an appointment—the mayor
is busy, his people said.
Annually for the last five years, the Lucena
government allots P55,000 for the seniors. Sarmiento said this
amount is barely enough to pay for the telephone, electricity and
water bills of the Office of the Senior Citizen Affairs. That office
submitted a P300,000 budget proposal to the mayor. If approved, that
could fund basic projects for senior citizens and cover
administration expenses.
Sarmiento said each senior citizen association
member in the city’s 33 barangay units pays P120 annually to renew
their senior IDs and to contribute to the financial assistance fund
for the family of members who die. Each family whose senior citizen
member dies receives P3,000.
Share of the IRA
Sarmiento said one of the many items they want
to take up with Talaga is the RA 9257 provision that senior citizens
ought to receive 1 percent of the Internal Revenue Allotment of the
local government. Sarmiento said other cities and provinces in
Calabarzon (referring to Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon)
are implementing this provision.
He hopes to sit down with the mayor soon. Talaga
declined to be interviewed by The Manila Times, referring questions
to the local office of the Department of Social Welfare and
Development, which in turn said questions should be posed to the
mayor.
Sarmiento said the mayor is always ready to give
a personal donation whenever seniors hold an activity, for example,
giving food and prizes during their annual Christmas party.
Talaga has said before that the help he provides
is to give importance and due recognition to the city’s older
citizens who had, in their fruitful years, contributed to the local
government’s undertakings.
But Sarmiento laments that the almost 20,000
seniors in this city still cannot avail of basic rights, such as the
20-percent discount on medicines.
Drugstores fear bankruptcy
He said the Federation officers complained to
drugstore owners who bluntly said giving the senior’s discount
will bankrupt them. They were told by the drugstore owners that the
only way for the seniors to get the discount is for the medicines to
be marked up accordingly.
Sarmiento said, however, that some drug stores
do give a discount—but not 20 percent—on certain days and only
for a few hours.
He conceded that fast-food restaurants,
transport firms, cinemas and major supermarkets, particularly as SM
City and Metro Gaisano, do give the full discount. The seniors also
get some hospitalization assistance.
Senior in Cavite
Dasmariñas, Bacoor and Imus in Cavite province
have the biggest representation in the Senior Citizen Federation.
One of them is Purificacion Miranda, chairman of Office of Senior
Citizen Affairs in Bacoor, where there are 25,000 members.
Miranda, 74, said reports reaching her office
show that an increasing number of senior citizens in Cavite depend
on dole-outs from local government units, and many of these seniors
die without getting benefits from the national government. These
benefits should come through the local social welfare departments.
The Bacoor’s Department of Social Welfare
extends health services to poor senior citizens. These include
discounts for hospitalization, free medicines, wheel chair, tooth
extraction and eyeglasses.
The Office of Senior Citizen Affairs of Bacoor
holds fund-raising drives, mainly targeting local government
officials for donations. The money raised is used to buy groceries
and basic needs for indigent seniors.
Last Christmas, Bacoor Mayor Strike Revilla
pledged to regularly give 179 cavans of rice and three kilos of meat
to every senior citizen through the barangay senior citizen
organizations.
While saying the Office of Senior Citizen
Affairs needs more support from the government, Miranda praised the
Revilla for his “genuine concern for the welfare of the poor
senior citizens.”
In Imus, Deogedio Carlos, 65, chairman of Office
of Senior Citizen Affairs, said, “We are lucky to have a
supportive Mayor Manny Maliksi, son of Cavite Gov. Ayong Maliksi,
because we have a lot of benefits for senior citizens.”
Every first Saturday of the month, the Imus
seniors office conducts a medical mission supported by doctors who
give free consultation and free medicines to sick senior citizens.
Poor senior citizens who die are given financial assistance out of
funds donated by local officials. Office of Senior Citizen Affairs
shoulders burial expenses too. A 5-percent discount once a week for
food bought in supermarkets like SM Lotus is a standard benefit to
all Imus seniors.
Through the Imus mayor’s office, the Office of
Senior Citizen Affairs is given an annual budget of P300,000 for
office maintenance and salaries of its employees. “I receive a
salary of P6,000 a month, which is not enough for me,” Carlos
said.
Botica ng Barangay
In coordination with some nongovernmental
organizations and the office of Governor Maliksi, senior citizens in
Cavite can purchase medicines for half the price from the Botica ng
Barangay in Imus.
Every April, the senior citizens are treated to
excursions, but each senior brings his or her own food and money.
ID-carrying senior citizens may see movies for free at Robinson
theaters in Cavite. Every Imus Foundation Day Celebration, 600 poor
senior citizens are given free eyeglasses. Last Christmas, the
office of the mayor, through Office of Senior Citizen Affairs, gave
a ration of three kilos of rice and canned goods to seniors.
Office of Senior Citizen Affairs members here
are requesting the government for a monthly pension of P1,000 for at
least 300 of the poorest senior citizens.
In Dasmariñas, Office of Senior Citizen Affairs
members are given a 20-percent discount on burial services, an
arrangement made with all funeral parlors by Chairman Diosdado
Hembra, 71.
He said his plan to launch livelihood projects
for his members will be realized this year with the support of
Dasmariñas Mayor Jenny Barzaga.
Hembra is also forming a foundation to build old
people’s homes that will take care of senior citizens in their
remaining years.
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