Cebu City elderly to get cash aid starting today

About 59,600 registered senior citizens in Cebu City’s north district are expected to line up in barangay halls to receive P2,000 cash assistance from the city government today.

A total of P121 million was set aside for the two-day distribution to be supervised by City Hall department heads, said ESter Concha, head of the Department of Social Welfare and Services.

The cash distribution has been marred by allegations of politicking as barangay chairmen allied with the Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan (BO-PK) cried foul over reports of Mayor Michael Rama’s move to tap allies in distributing the P2,000 cash aid.

Tomorrow’s distribution will cover senior citizens in the city’s south district.

Beneficiaries will be called by their assigned ID numbers and not by the name appearing in the City Hall payroll, Concha said.

Concha said the distribution of cash aid will be coordinated with “active barangay officials” tasked to help verify the identity of the claimants.

However, Guadalupe barangay chairperson Michael Gacasan said the cash aid distribution is being made to appear as a “Team Rama” activity more than two weeks ahead of the Oct. 28 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections.

Mayor Rama said it was a “political reality” that candidates for the Oct. 28 barangay-SK elections will be visible today and take advantage of today’s distribution.

“It cannot be avoided that everyone will be there.  If they are there to help, we don’t have a problem with that,” he said.

He stressed that the release of of senior citizens aid is being handled by City Hall to ensure it is “brought to their doorstep”.

This means involving barangay leaders since the distribution sites are in barangay halls.

Priority numbers

Gacasan said he sent barangay councilor Wilfredo Gallardo to secure a copy of the master list of more than 5,000 registered senior citizens in their barangay from the Office of the Senior Citizens (OSCA).

But Gallardo said that the master list was already given last Tuesday to former Guadalupe barangay chairman Eugenio Faelnar, who is reportedly running anew for the post under Team Rama.

Mabolo barangay captain Rey Ompoc said several senior citizens also complained to him that the distribution of priority numbers for today’s release of cash aid was made at the home of Daniel Arguedo, the Team Rama bet for barangay chairman.

Complainants said their names, sequence number and table assignments were written on one side of a ¼ size short bondpaper which bears the face and name of Arguedo and the candidates under his slate.

A note “Atty. Daniel Arguedo Kapitan” and “Team Arguedo, Asenso Mabolo” are also printed on the paper.

Ompoc showed a copy of the campaign material to BO-PK leader Tomas Osmeña in a meeting held in a Cebu City restaurant a yesterday afternoon.

T. Padilla barangay chairman Michael Rallota, who also heads the Association of Barangay Councils (ABC), said he’ll write Rama today to seek the postponement of the cash distribution until the concerns of BO-PK officials are addressed.

Supporters

He also encouraged BO-PK allies to oversee the cash distribution in barangay centers today.

Osmeña said a City Council resolution passed on June 19, 2013 required a one-week notice to disseminate information in the city’s 80 barangays prior to the actual distribution of seniors’ assistance.

Rama announced the distribution of the P2,000 assistance during the opening program of the senior citizens month celebration held on October 1.

“There’s no law stating that the cash aid would be distributed by barangay officials,” he said.

Former councilor Jose Daluz III, Rama’s administrative officer, said they tapped some of the mayor’s trusted supporters to help out in preparations for today’s distribution.

But he denied that they were involved in the distribution of priority numbers.

What were already given out were the claim numbers of senior citizens which specifies to which disbursing officer they are assigned, Daluz said.

Complaints

The city government promised a P10,000 assistance for its elderly residents this year.

The first release of P4,000 was made in March while another P2,000 is scheduled for release today and on Saturday.

Commission on Elections (Comelec) north district election officer Marchel Sarno said those running in the barangay-SK elections cannot be charged with election offense since the filing of candidacies hasn’t started yet.

“But the aggrieved parties could still file a complaint maybe before the Office of the Ombudsman if they feel that government funds were wasted during the process,” he told Cebu Daily News.

Regional Comelec Director Temie Lambino said they will entertain complaints on the release of the assistance if there are any.

“If a party thinks that it’s illegal, then we will have it investigated with our legal department,” he added. With Correspondent Jose Santino S. Bunachita