Ormoc councilors tackle senior citizens’ birthday gift issues

ORMOC CITY, Leyte, March 16 (PNA) –- The city council’s committee on social welfare conducted a meeting regarding the appeal by senior citizens to remove a requirement in claiming their birthday gift benefit. The birthday gift is a financial assistance by the city government given to senior citizens on their birthdays.

The benefit which comes in the form of PHP1,500 cash is mandated by Ordinance No. 184. Lawyer Jasper Lucero who is carrying the advocacy of senior citizens, formally filed the request to amend the ordinance before the council.

He is specifically seeking the removal of a provision in Section 4 no. 3 requiring the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to certify that a beneficiary’s name is included in the voters’ list for the 2013 elections to enable him/her to claim his/her birthday gift. A local newspaper quoted him as saying the requirement smacks of “pure politics.”

Mansueta Teleron, head of senior citizens affairs, explained that the Comelec certification was made a requirement to ensure that only bona fide residents are able to avail of the birthday gift. She cited an example of an elderly from neighboring Merida town, who was denied of a birthday gift even if she was bearing a senior citizens card from Ormoc.

Councilor Mario Rodriguez agrees with the justification that the required Comelec certification serves as a safeguard from abuse. “Teleron is right when she said the concern is on how to ensure that only bona fide Ormocanons will be given the benefit,” he said.

Rodriguez cited the experience of Cebu City wherein the budget for the PHP3,000 financial assistance given to its senior citizens every quarter has reached PHP800 million this year due to the influx of elderly people from other places as a result of the lack of safeguards in its ordinance.

Association of village chairmen president Mariano Corro, also a lawyer, seconded, saying that other local governments give birthday gift to senior citizens who are residents for the past three years and that a Comelec certification is a form of proof to that effect.

“Even if I was not a member of the city council when this ordinance was enacted, I do believe that they incorporated this particular provision regarding Comelec registration to safeguard the funds in order that it will not be abused,” said Corro who is a senior citizen himself.

Ormoc has 16,000 senior citizens but the city allotted P16 million for the birthday gift this year which is good for 10,000 members only. “It’s not fair if senior citizens from nearby towns will come here to claim their birthday gift. We don’t have the resources for that,” Rodriguez reasoned out.

Lucero pointed out that Section 4 of the ordinance also requires a certification from the village chief which for him will suffice. But Rodriguez is apprehensive with the idea. “We know very well village chiefs can use the certification as a political tool,” he said.

Corro is also not inclined on trusting the certificates issued by village chiefs, saying that even lawyers violate the required presence of the affiant when notarizing affidavits. “I think it’s very easy to get that certification. It’s not a sufficient safeguard,” he opined.

Even councilors Vincent Rama who is the committee chairman and Benjamin Pongos admitted being in a quandary on how to grant the request of Lucero, their partymate. The consensus reached is that the required Comelec certification will remain in the ordinance until they come up with an alternative fool-proof safeguard. (PNA)
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