13 centenarians receive P100,000 gift from DSWD

THIRTEEN centenarians in Davao Region received cash gifts of P100,000 from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD XI) for the first semester of the year.

“We recently completed awarding a cash gift to 13 qualified centenarians in the region,” Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) focal for older persons Arris P. Medrano said.

According to Medrano, qualifying centenarians are from Davao Del Sur, Davao Oriental, Davao Occidental, Davao de Oro, and Davao Del Norte, and Davao City.

Other than the cash gift, the centenarians are also entitled to awards and incentives from their respective city or municipality to be determined by the local government unit.

They may also receive a Letter of Felicitation

signed by President Rodrigo R. Duterte and a posthumous plaque of recognition for deceased centenarians who died upon the effectivity of the Act.

The DSWD conducted the validation of the centenarians with ages ranging from 100 to 103.

The documents submitted include birth certificate or passport, senior citizen identification card, or any other Philippine government-issued ID, which shows age and citizenship were verified by the agency’s personnel.

The DSWD also informed they considered alternative and acceptable documents to prove the claim including marriage certificate, old school documents, baptismal or confirmation records, birth certificate of children, or an affidavit executed by at least two disinterested persons at least 80 years old with personal knowledge of the centenarian’s actual age or birth date.

The cash gift is consonant to the Republic Act 10868 or An Act Honoring and Granting Additional Benefits and Privileges to Filipino Centenarians, and for Other Purposes also known as the Centenarians Act of 2016 that President Rodrigo Duterte signed into law on June 23, 2016.