Burial assistance for QC centenarians pushed

MANILA, Philippines—A councilor has pushed for a P10,000 burial assistance for Quezon City residents aged 100 and above.

The new incentive, should it be approved, will be on top of the P10,000 cash incentive centenarians are entitled to on their birthday as well as a cash gift of P2,000 for Christmas.

Councilor Voltaire Godofredo Liban III of the second district said that while a 2010 ordinance signed into law by then Quezon City Mayor Feliciano Belmonte Jr. rewards residents aged 100 years or more with birthday and Christmas cash incentives, there was no provision for burial assistance.

“To fully support our centenarians who are the living link to our history up to the time of their demise, and considering the high cost for burial nowadays, there is a need to give an additional incentive to them in the form of burial assistance amounting to P10,000.” According to the local Office of the Senior Citizens Affairs, Quezon City has 67 centenarians as of this month.—Jeannette I. Andrade