Mayor Binay recalls new Blu Cards

Makati Mayor Jejomar Erwin Binay has ordered the recall of senior citizen cards bearing his photograph, saying these were printed without his consent and approval.

Binay said that the design of the Blu Card was changed without his approval, according to the city’s public information chief Joey Salgado.

The new cards which bear Binay’s likeness were issued after he assumed the post of Makati mayor in 2010.

“It was designed by the Office of Senior Citizens Affairs without the mayor’s approval,” Salgado said in a text message. “The mayor has ordered the immediate recall of the IDs.”

Earlier, several beneficiaries of the program expressed their dismay over the card’s new design, a picture of which appeared in the Inquirer last

Sunday. A senior citizen who lives in Makati brought the matter to the paper’s attention.

The ID cards allow city hall to keep track of the elderly in Makati who get various perks as mandated by local ordinances.

Aside from being able to see movies for free anytime of the week, receiving cakes on their birthday and an annual cash gift, the beneficiaries’ kin are

also entitled to financial assistance once the ID holder passes away.

The amount of the cash gift ranges from P2,000 to P4,000, depending on the senior citizen’s age.

Makati has over 52,000 elderly people, according to city hall.