The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) records a total of 87, 920 indigent Senior Citizens who are beneficiaries of its Social Pension program in Region 8.
In the 6 provinces of the region, the province of Leyte has the biggest number of beneficiaries. It comprises 31, 276 recipients followed by the province of Samar 16, 760; Northern Samar 12, 890; Eastern Samar 12, 036; Southern Leyte 10, 733; and Biliran province with 4, 225 beneficiaries.
Meanwhile, the government allocates fund amounting P527, 520,000 to cater about 88 thousand senior citizens regionwide. Leyte has an allocation of P187, 656, 000; Samar with P100, 560,000; Northern Samar P77, 340, 000; Eastern Samar P72, 216,000; Southern Leyte P64, 398, 000 and the province of Biliran with P25, 350, 000.
In Leyte province, the town of Tanauan records the biggest number of beneficiaries which is 2, 005 indigent senior citizens with P12, 030, 000 allocation followed by the City of Tacloban with 1, 995 beneficiaries with P11, 796, 000 then Ormoc City 1, 287 with P7, 710, 000.
Calbayog City in the province of Samar receives P8, 730, 000 budget for its 1, 455 beneficiaries then the city of Catbalogan with 1, 000 senior citizens with an allocation of P6, 000,000. The town of Gandara and Daram of the province has an equal number of recipients 945 and allocation of P5, 670, 000.
In the province of Northern Samar, the town of Laoang receives P4, 800, 000 for its 450 recipients. The town of Borongan in Eastern Samar has P5, 880, 000 for 980 indigent senior citizens; in Southern Leyte province, Sogod has the most number of beneficiaries which is 768 with a budget allocation of P4, 608, 000 and lastly, the town of Naval in Biliran has P3, 840, 000 for 640 recipients.
The DSWD prioritize senior citizens who are 77 years old and above to avail on its Social Pension program. But in some cases, sickly in frail that ages 60 years old are also being prioritized by the department.
This program is one of the government’s efforts to alleviate the living situation of the senior citizens of the country especially those indigent ones.
