THE city government of Taguig handed birthday cash gifts to almost 7,000 senior citizens for the first three months of 2018.
One of them was Nelita Amores, 76, who could not contain her happiness upon receiving her birthday cash gift from the Taguig City government last month.
The P4,000 she received was, after all, eight times the amount she used to receive on her birthdays in 2008.
“I’m happy…I’m just really happy,” the resident of Barangay Ususan said, as she claimed the amount with her grandson at the City Social Welfare Development Office. Cash-gift distribution in the city is done year-round.
Ramonita Jordan, head of the Office of Senior Citizens Affairs, said Nanay Nelita was not alone in her merry celebration.
She said since the birthday cash gift was increased under City Ordinance 25 series of 2017, other residents in the city could not wait to get older and qualify for the Taguig City program that ensures the well-being of the elderly.
Under the ordinance, the grandmas and grandpas of Taguig now receive P3,000, P4,000 and P5,000 as birthday cash gifts, depending on their age bracket: the 60 to 69 year-old bracket, the 70 to 79 bracket and the 80 and older bracket, respectively.
The increase is the second since the City Council, through City Ordinance 09, made compulsory the distribution of P500 monetary gifts to the elderly during their birthdays in 2008.
The first was in 2013, when the P500 cash gift was increased to P1,000.
“Where do you see citizens wanting to become senior citizens?” Jordan asked, noting that aside from the birthday cash gifts, Taguigeño senior citizens are given a P1,500 social pension distributed quarterly.
She said centenarians living in the city are even given P100,000 and continue to receive the same amount every year after their 100th birthday.
For Nanay Nelita, who no longer works, the cash gift could be one of the best gifts she could ever receive. She said the money, after all, could be used for the purchase of her medicines, and to address her other needs.
But for Mayor Lani Cayetano and the Taguig City government in general, Nanay Nelita’s smile is more than enough.
Other programs for the elderly in Taguig include a house-to-house delivery of free maintenance medicines for those with diabetes, high-blood pressure and asthma; the TLC Home Care Service, which allows the elderly to experience free-nursing services in the comfort of their homes; and the Oplan Linaw program, which allows grandmas and grandpas to avail themselves of free eye checkups and prescription glasses.
The local government also provides wheelchairs and canes to the city’s elderly.