Senior citizens suffer in long lines

MORE than 600  senior citizens persevered in long lines and the summer heat  to receive their P3,000 financial assistance from the Office of the Cebu City   Senior Citizen’s Affairs (OSCA) last Tuesday.

Many beneficiaries and their relatives complained that the distribution was disorganized.  Elderly city residents stood in long lines under a hot sun.

Nanette Garong of barangay Suba who accompanied her 76-year- old mother was upset when she saw how her mother together with the rest of the elderly beneficiaries waited in long lines without enough chairs to accommodate them.

“Kanang P3,000 di pa enough para down payment sa hospital simbako naa’y maunsa,” Garong said.

(That  P3,000 aid isn’t even enough for the down payment in a hospital if something happened to them.)

Some senior citizens ended up sitting on the  sidewalk in Plaza Sugbu. Some were so frail that they had to be carried by chair.

A 63-year-old man’s blood pressure shot up because of the heat.  He was immediately attended by volunteers of the Basak Pardo Emergency Unit.

OSCA head Jeffrey Ocampo said that due to some misinformation, even those not scheduled to collect their assistance showed up, resulting in overcrowding.

Water stations and tents were set up, but some beneficiaries chose not to stay in the shade.

OSCA will have another round of distribution in July this year.