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Over 48,800 senior citizens in Northern Mindanao to receive pensions

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, July 1 (PNA) -- More than 48,800 senior citizens in Northern Mindanao will receive a quarterly pension of PHP1,500 pension, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) here said Wednesday.

Charmaine Tadlas, the regional DSWD information officer, said that the DSWD arrived at the figure after validating 29,499 additional senior citizens to the DSWD’s existing 18,501 lists of senior citizens in the region.

She said that the government has extended a quarterly pension to qualified senior citizens in Northern Mindanao in January 2011 to augment the senior citizen’s medical needs and foods.

Any qualified senior citizen could apply at the City or Municipal Social Welfare and Development Office under the local government unit. They can also apply at the Office of the Senior Citizens Affairs (OSCA), Tadlas said.

She said that the qualified senior citizens are those considered to be indigent, and are aged 66 years old above and are not beneficiaries of any pension such as SSS, GSIS, among others.

The DSWD would announce the release of the pension on a quarterly basis (March, June, September, and December). The senior citizen could claim the pension at the OSCA or City/Municipal Social Welfare and Development Office. (PNA)