The city government of Makati has allocated over P440 million from its budget this year for its senior citizens, Mayor Abby Binay said on Thursday, as the city looks to further upgrading its generous Blu Card program.
The multimillion program would benefit around 85,000 senior citizens who comprise around one-fifth of the city’s voting population. Under the program, senior citizens aged 60 to 89 receive cash gifts ranging from P3,000 to P5,000 every year, while cardholders aged 90-99, and 101 years old onwards can get P10,000 in cash gifts every year under City Ordinance No. 2019-A-023.
The cash gifts total P331.7 million, while the rest of the budget covers unlimited free entrance in Makati cinemas, free leisure trips, birthday and golden wedding anniversary cakes, salon and spa services, and cultural shows specifically for the city’s elderly.
The 2020 budget for elderly services is also a huge spike from last year’s P330 million, and constitutes around a third of the P1.37-billion budget for the Social Welfare subsector.
Part of this is because of the city government’s consistent push to increase incentives and allowances for senior citizens under the Blu Card program, which initially began as a financial assistance program for funeral expenses.