Metro Briefs: Makati’s seniors to get cash gift next month

Some 77,685 registered senior citizens in Makati City will receive half of their midyear cash gift starting on June 1. For this year, the city government has allocated P326 million for the cash gift and centenarian incentive under the BLU Card, the Elderly Welfare Section of the Makati Social Welfare Development said in a statement on Monday. An additional P1,000 to the yearly cash gift has been granted through a city ordinance passed in December. BLU Card holders aged 60 to 69 will now receive an annual cash gift of P3,000 each; 70 to 79 years old, P4,000; and aged 80 and above, P5,000. The cash gift for all age groups will be given in two equal installments every June and December. Thus, the first group will get P1,500; the second group, P2,000; and the third group, P2,500 this June. The distribution will be held between June 1 to 23 at designated venues in their respective barangays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. —Erika Sauler

Woman, cousin nabbed for drugs in Angono, Rizal

After almost a year of surveillance, Rizal policemen arrested on Sunday night a woman and her cousin who yielded P750,000 worth of “shabu” or methamphetamine hydrochloride. The operation was carried out on National Road in front of the Angono Municipal Hall in Barangay Manggahan, just 150 meters away from the police station, according to Supt. Reydante Ariza, head of the Rizal provincial police’s Drug Enforcement Unit. Margie Ponseca and Joseph Patente were arrested after they were caught in the act of selling P1,000 worth of shabu to an undercover policeman in a buy-bust operation. They also yielded 10 sachets of the drug worth P750,000. Ariza said that the two had been under surveillance for a year. During questioning, the suspects identified a certain “Imelda” from Taguig City as their supplier. According to Ariza, Imelda was also known as “Madam Joy” and “Madam Magda,” who has links to people connected with the Boratong drug group. —Jodee A. Agoncillo