Ormoc councilors fail to help senior citizens

CLOSE TO HIS HEART. Mayor Edward C. Codilla greets two elderly women in one of his daily barangay visits. Last year, the mayor approved the release of P16 million for the senior citizens' birthday gift. He approved the same amount for this year.

THE committee on social welfare of the 13^th Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) conducted a meeting on Mar. 14 regarding the appeal by senior citizens to remove a requirement in claiming their birthday gift benefit. The birthday gift is a financial assistance by the city government given to senior citizens on their birthdays.

The benefit, which comes in the form of P1,500 cash, is mandated by Ordinance No. 184. Lawyer Jasper Lucero who is carrying the advocacy of senior citizens as part of his campaign strategy being an aspiring councilor, formally filed the request to amend the ordinance before the SP.

He is specifically seeking the removal of a provision in Section 4 no. 3 requiring the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to certify that a beneficiary’s name is included in the voters’ list for the 2013 elections to enable him/her to claim his/her birthday gift. A local newspaper quoted him as saying the requirement smacks of “pure politics.”

Mansueta Teleron, head of senior citizens affairs, explained that the Comelec certification was made a requirement to ensure that only bona fide residents are able to avail of the birthday gift. She cited an example of an elderly from neighboring Merida town who was denied of a birthday gift even if she was bearing a senior citizens card from Ormoc.

Councilor Mario Rodriguez, a partymate of Lucero in the Nationalist People’s Coalition, agrees with the justification that the required Comelec certification serves as a safeguard from abuse. “Sakto si ma’am Teleron nga ang concern ani unsaon ang pagkontrol nga ang mahatagan ani nga benepisyo Ormocanon gyud,” he said.

Rodriguez cited the experience of Cebu City wherein the budget for the P3,000 financial assistance given to its senior citizens every quarter has reached P800 million this year due to the influx of elderly people from other places as a result of the lack of safeguards in its ordinance.

Association of Barangay Chairmen president Mariano Y. Corro, also a lawyer, seconded, saying that other local government units (LGU) give birthday gift to senior citizens who are residents for the past three years and that a Comelec certification is a form of proof to that effect.

“Even if I was not a member of the Sangguniang Panlungsod when this ordinance was enacted, I do believe that they incorporated this particular provision regarding Comelec registration to safeguard the funds in order that it will not be abused,” said Corro who is a senior citizen himself.

Ormoc has 16,000 senior citizens but the LGU allotted P16 million for the birthday gift this year which is good for 10,000 members only. “Lisod man sad ang taga-neighboring mga lungsod manganhi dinhi, mangayo silang tanan. Wa gyud tay saktong resources nga ihatag sa tanan,” Rodriguez reasoned out.

But Lucero reasoned that Section 4 of the ordinance also requires a certification from the barangay chairman, which for him already suffices. But Rodriguez is apprehensive with having the barangay chairman's certification as primary proof of the claimant's residency. “We know very well nga naay kapitan nga himuong political tool ang certification,” he said.

Corro is also not inclined on trusting the certificates issued by barangay chairmen, saying that even lawyers violate the required presence of the affiant when notarizing affidavits. “I think it’s very easy to get that certification [from the barangay chairman]. It’s not a sufficient safeguard,” he opined.

Even councilors Vincent Rama who is the committee chairman and Benjamin Pongos admitted being in a quandary on how to grant the request of Lucero, their partymate. The consensus reached is that the required Comelec certification will remain in the ordinance until they come up with an alternative fool-proof safeguard.