DSWD accepts social pension application

• Source:http://www.sunstar.com.ph/zamboanga/local-news/2016/07/08/dswd-accepts-social-pension-application-484139
• Sunday, July 10, 2016

By Bong Garcia

INDIGENT senior citizen aged 60 and above may now avail of the Social Pension Program of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), an official from the agency announced.

DSWD Regional Information Officer Lei Madeline Espiritusanto said eligible to apply are the following: indigent senior citizens 60 years old and above, and senior citizens without pension from the Social Security System (SSS) or Government Service Insurance System (GSIS).

Applicants must bring with them their senior citizen identification card and certificate of indigency upon the application of the program.

Espiritusanto said the applicants will be assessed by the social workers and will be endorsed to the DSWD regional office for final approval.

They are entitled to receive P1,500 social pension per quarter.

However, Espiritusanto said the qualified applicants are not expected to immediately receive pension since they will be included in the pensioners’ waitlist, first.

“They will wait until such time there will be replacement which happens by death or delisting of senior citizen pensioners,” she said.

The funds of the DSWD intended for Social Pension Program have already been apportioned to the program’s existing social pensioners aged 65 and above.

She said there were a total of 81,251 social pensioners aged 65 and above here in Region 9.

The application documents can be submitted through the City Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWDO) or at the Office of the Senior Citizens Affairs (Osca).