The Department of Social Welfare and Development Field Office VII has conducted the updating the information of the indigent senior citizens in the region who are included in the Social Pension program.

The updating aims to gather new information from the existing beneficiaries of the social pension program.

The Field Office started the updating in April 2019 which has been participated by the staff from various programs and services like Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, Kalahi-CIDSS and Sustainable Livelihood Program, among others.

“We are thankful to our staff especially those who were assigned in different cities and municipalities who accepted the call for this social pension updating. However, since we already hired staff for this updating, the newly hired validators will continue the home visitation and interview,” said DSWD-7 Regional Director Rebecca P. Geamala.

The hired staff are expected to have a courtesy visit to the Local Chief Executive and to the Barangay Chairman before they conduct the home visit to the social pensioner.

During the updating, information is gathered using the social pension beneficiary update form. The update form is a one-page questionnaire that contains identification, socio-economic information and the utilization of the social pension.

“If the social pensioner cannot answer the questions anymore, there should be one eligible family member or guardian who can answer the questions from our staff,” Geamala emphasized.

The social pension program started in 2011 under Republic Act 9994 or the Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010 that provides Php 500 monthly stipend for eligible indigent senior citizens.

The cash stipend aims to help them in their basic needs such as medicines and food.

Currently, there are 270,910 senior citizens who are beneficiaries of the said program. ###

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