QC increases death benefit for seniors’ kin

The bereaved families of registered senior citizens in Quezon City will now receive a P5,000 death benefit assistance after Mayor Herbert Bautista signed into a law an ordinance providing for its grant.

Bautista said the assistance shall be extended by the local government on top of the 12,000 death benefit assistance provided for under Republic Act 9994, or the Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2000.

As provided for under Ordinance No. 2544, only the legitimate surviving relative of the deceased shall be entitled to receive the cash assistance.

In case that the deceased has no spouse and is not married, the assistance shall be limited to relatives in the following degree of kinship: children, parents, brothers or sisters, grandparents, grandchildren, uncles and aunts.

To facilitate the grant of the assistance, the Office for Senior Citizens Affairs (OSCA) has required claimants to present the identification card that OSCA has issued prior to the death of their relative as well as a photocopy of the death certificate.

The ordinance, principally authored by Councilor Roger Juan, carries a fine of 15,000 and imprisonment not exceeding one year or both subject to the discretion of the court to any public officer who will be employing fraud or disguise to take advantage of the city government’s program.

Aside from OSCA, the ordinance also enjoins the city’s Social Services Development Department (SSDD) and other concerned agencies in the crafting of the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR).

Based on OSCA records, there are about 400,000 registered senior citizens in Quezon City.