ROMBLON, Romblon –The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) IV – MiMaRoPa recently distributed  a Php1,500 cash grant to 364 indigent senior citizens as a subsidy for the last quarter of 2014.

According to Susana F. Malihan, Head, Office of the Senior Citizen Affairs (OSCA), the cash assistance is allocated by the National Government and distributed by DSWD through its Social Pension Program (SocPen). The program provides cash subsidy to indigent senior citizens age 77 and above. The beneficiaries are seniors who are poor, frail and sickly, with physical disability and are not recipient of pension from GSIS, SSS, Veteran and other insurance company; and do not have a permanent source of income or support from any family members.

Socpen aims to improve the lives of indigent senior citizens and enables financial capacity to buy food, medicine and vitamins.

In a short message, Municipal Social Welfare Officer Ma. Lourdes M. Fajarda emphasized that the cash assistance from the program will not cover all their needs, she added “the national government assures that through discounts from various establishments, public transports and free medical assistance through PhilHealth, what Socpen does not cover is compensated”.

SocPen is one of the many social protection programs of DSWD that hopes to improve the well-being of indigent senior citizens.###