Caloocan City Mayor Dale Gonzalo “Along” Malapitan led the distribution of cash gifts for senior citizens at Caloocan Sports Complex, Barangay 171, today, September 8.
The birthday cash gift is one of the platforms of the local chief executive during the 2022 campaign period, on top of the continuation of the birthday package program of the previous administration. Recently, the Caloocan City Council passed Ordinance no. 0984 granting P500 cash gift to senior citizens during their birth month effective this September.
“Ang pangako ko po sa inyo noong panahon ng kampanya, kasabay ng pagtanggap niyo ng birthday package ay magbibigay din tayo ng cash gift para sa inyong kaarawan. Ngayon, naisakatuparan na po ito sa tulong ng ating konseho at isa nang ganap na ordinansa,” Mayor Along said.
In a short speech, the local chief executive stated that this gesture from the city government also aims to show appreciation and likewise recognize senior citizens for raising and instilling good values in the youth.
“Sisikapin po ng ating liderato na iparamdam sa inyo ang pagkalinga at pagtanaw namin ng utang na loob para sa maraming taon na pag-aalaga nyo sa mga bagong henerasyon ng mga Batang Kankaloo,” the Mayor said.
“Mga lolo at lola namin sa Caloocan, hayaan nyong kami naman po ang mag-alaga sa inyo at kilalanin ang inyong ambag sa ating komunidad. Ipaparamdam po namin sa inyo na masarap tumanda sa Caloocan,” he added.
Office of the Senior Citizens Affairs (OSCA) officer-in-charge Ms. Marilyn De Jesus stated that the distribution shall be assigned to barangays and that all registered senior citizens are entitled to the said benefit as instructed by Mayor Along.
“Ibababa po natin ang pamamahagi sa mga barangay para mas mabilis makuha ng mga senior kasabay ng kanilang cash gift. Ang bilin po sa atin ni Mayor Along, walang pipiliin—mayaman, mahirap basta’t rehistrado po sa ating database ay mabibigyan ng cash gift,” she said.
In line with this, OSCA also launched the digitalization of the registration and updating of senior citizen IDs with the objective to clean its database for a more efficient information dissemination, benefit distribution, and streamlined data repository.
