Seniors to get cash aid tomorrow
As promised, the Cebu City government will distribute the tenth tranche of cash assistance amounting to P1,000 to over 69,000 registered senior citizens tomorrow.
The amount is part of the P12,000 that the city allocated for the financial assistance for senior citizens. Every year, the city government gives P12,000 to every registered elderly at P1,000 every month.
Office of Seniors Citizen Affairs (OSCA) officer-incharge, Lourdes Limpangog said the distribution will start from 8 a.m. until 12 noon.
The cash aid will be released by the city disbursing officer assisted by barangay officials. The seniors are asked to present their identification cards upon claiming the money.
The distribution will be held in different government facilities such as barangay halls, sport complexes and public schools as provided in the city ordinance No.2453 or The Annual Financial Assistance to All Qualified Senior Citizens of Cebu City Ordinance.
Limpangog said there are teams tasked to go to the houses of bedridden senior citizens for the release of cash aid.
Under the existing ordinance, the seniors are given at least 10 days to claim their financial assistance. Financial aid not claimed within the grace period will be automatically forfeited.
Limpangog said they will not honor authorization letter to avoid issues in the disbursement of aid.
“Yes, the guidelines in the ordinance man gud stated nga no authorization. That’s why, if dili kaanha kay sick, amo na adtuon sa balay or adtuon sa hospital,” she said.
Limpangog said the next schedule of the distribution will be in December and the seniors will receive the remaining P2,000.
If parents or guardians continue to refuse to let their children be immunized, local health authorities warn that measles disease may resurge in Central Visayas.
The regional Department of Health (DOH) office recently launched its regionwide house-to-house supplemental immunization for measles.
However, on its first week, hesitance is still observed among adults.
DOH Region 7 Director Dr. Jaime Bernadas said misinformation and misconception of the vaccines are one of the main problems that health workers had to convince parents to allow the former to administer the immunization.
He said all children must receive the complete dose of vaccines to ensure that the measles virus cannot penetrate a huge population or else the threat of an epidemic will always remain.
“If we can’t achieve the 100 percent coverage, there will always be a possibility of an outbreak,” he told reporters yesterday in an interview at the 2nd National Health Sector Meeting held at Waterfront Hotel in Cebu City.
He explained that in the past years, there were buckets of measles outbreak since only about 60 percent of the target population was covered by the measles immunization and this event leaves the 40 percent group vulnerable.
“We really are envisioning at increasing the 61 percent performance for the past years… The target is 100 percent. We should not leave any baby or any child unimmunized. If there are vulnerable segment of the population then anything can set in especially measles that is all around worldwide,” he said.
By achieving the