P5.3 M for centenarians to be released by yearend

A TOTAL of P5.3 million is expected to be released by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to 53 centenarians in the Cordillera Administrative Region.

This is through the provision of the P100,000 cash incentive in compliance to Republic Act 10868 or the Centenarians Act of 2016.

“Out of the 53, 32 centenarians or their surviving relatives have already received the cash incentive,” DSWDCAR OIC regional director Janet Armas said.

In 2016, the Department has received 25 potential beneficiaries, however, upon assessment and verification of documents, only 19 were found eligible to receive the P100,000 incentive.

“We had to drop some names since we have to follow the guidelines issued by the department. As much as we want to give the incentive, we could not disregard the requirements for the protection of the people involved and to prevent the assistance from being abused,” Armas added.

DSWD-CAR has recently noted some reports claiming Kalinga traditional tattoo artist Whang-od has not received the P100,000 incentive from the department.

“Based on the birth certificate provided to us, Apo Whang-od is only 98 years old thus making her ineligible for the said incentive. However, she can still avail of other services from the department as long as she fulfils the requirements of such,” focal person on elderly Rojhelea An Marie Claur said. Whang-od has been registered in 2015 with a declared age of 96.

Claur also added centenarians who had their late registrations in 2016 are now re-

quired to present additional documents for verification.

DSWD’s Memorandum Circular No. 4, Series of 2017 states the birth certificate or Philippine passport of the centenarian should be presented to the local social welfare and development officer, head of the Office of the Senior Citizens Affairs (OSCA) in partnership with a partner Civil Society Organization for the verification of the centenarian’s date of birth.

In the absence of such documents, a senior citizen’s identification (ID) card or any Philippine-government issued ID may also be accepted. Meanwhile, two of the following secondary documents maybe accepted in the absence of the aforementioned primary IDs: marriage certificate; birth certificate of children borne by/of the centenarian issued by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) of the Local Civil Registrar; affidavits executed by at least two disinterested persons who are at least 80 years old with personal knowledge of centenarian’s actual age or date of birth; old school or employment record showing date of birth of centenarian; baptismal and/ or confirmation records of centenarian certified by the parish church and other religious denomination; medical or dental examination issued by medical practitioners; other related documents stating the date of birth of the centenarian.

For 2017, DSWDCAR has already received the documents of around 79 centenarians. As of writing, 28 of these centenarians will be able to receive the cash incentive this year.

“We have already released the incentive to 32 centenarians. We are targeting to release the remaining before the end of 2017,” Armas said.

Any queries, comments, or grievances regarding the incentive can be forwarded to the local social welfare and development office, OSCA or to DSWD-CAR through https:// www.facebook.com/ dswdfocar/, focar@dswd.gov.ph or (074) 446-59-61 and look for Rojhelea An Marie Claur. Nerizza Faye Villanueva