Cordillera Administrative Region- The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) here through the Social Pension Program has already released a total of P 90,499,500.00 to the social pensioners for the 1st semester of 2015.
The Social Pension is one of the social protection programs of the government which targets to assist poor, frail, and sickly senior citizens who do not receive any other kind of pension or do not have stable source of income through the provision of monthly stipend amounting to P500.
“The stipend for our social pensioners is released every quarter; thus, each of them receives a total amount of P 1,500 per quarter. And we always encourage the beneficiaries or their relatives to allot this to cover the pensioners’ necessities which includes their food and medicines since we have other programs which may address the needs of other family members if necessary,” DSWD-CAR Regional Director Janet P. Armas shared.
For the first quarter, around 33,525 social pensioners received a total amount of Php 50,570,000.00 and Php 40,442,500.00 for 26,984 social pensioners for the second quarter of 2015.
The Social Pension Program was first implemented in 2011 serving 3,747 social pensioners, 7,206 in 2012, 9,842 served in 2013, and 14,362 senior citizens served in 2014. For 2015, the program is targeting to serve around 34,192 senior citizens in which 8,164 will be from Abra Province, 6,269 from Benguet Province, 5,888 from Ifugao Province, 4,815 from Kalinga Province, 4,465 from Mountain Province and 3,944 from Apayao Province.
From 2011 to fist quarter of 2015, the Social Pension Program was able to release a total of Php 297,666,500.00 to the social pensioners here. Payment for the second quarter is still on going for some areas in the region. # DSWD-CAR, SOCIAL MARKETING UNIT, Nerizza Faye G. Villanueva
