InterAksyon.com
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MAKATI CITY – This main financial district’s over 21,000 senior citizens registered as BLU Card holders who are 70 years old and above will receive additional cash incentives starting June this year.
Mayor Jejomar Erwin S. Binay revealed this following the passage of a city ordinance increasing the allowance given to elderly citizens 70-79 years old from P2,000 to P3,000; and for those who are 80 years old and above, from P3,000 to P4,000.
“Giving more incentives to our elderly citizens is part of our efforts to help make life easier for them as they reach the twilight years. We could not thank them enough for their legacy, especially the invaluable services they rendered to society during their prime,” Mayor Binay said.
Binay said the increased cash incentive is intended to help ease the financial burden of senior citizens and their families, given their increasing need for medicines and nutritional supplements as they age.
The amount will be released in two equal installments: the first tranche given in the first two weeks of June and the second, in December of every year. Recipients who cannot personally claim the cash incentives must give authorization to a relative listed as beneficiary at the back of the BLU Card. Authorization forms are available at the Makati Social Welfare Department (MSWD).
MSWD chief and acting City Administrator Marjorie A. de Veyra said unclaimed cash gifts for the scheduled release in June are considered forfeited, but beneficiaries can still avail themselves of the remaining incentive due in December.
De Veyra stressed that only senior citizens 70 years old and over will receive the additional cash incentive, as per City Ordinance No. 2012-017. Meanwhile, those between 60-69 years old will still get the regular P2,000 also given in two equal installments.
Makati has a total 52,500 registered senior citizens under the BLU Card program aged 60 years old and over as of the first quarter of this year.
Other than the cash incentives, Makati’s senior citizens also enjoy free medical and hospitalization benefits at the Ospital ng Makati, as well as free access to movie houses in the city’s high-end malls. Upon the demise of a BLU Card holder, beneficiaries receive burial assistance amounting to P3,000.
Recently, an added perk was introduced for the city’s “seniorito and seniorita” citizens – free salon and spa services. An initiative of De Veyra, the beauty salon and spa gives free hair cut, manicure and foot spa, massage and other grooming services to the city’s elderly citizens.
Launched last February 14, the mobile beauty salon and spa goes around the city’s 33 barangays to provide these pampering services to the elderly in their neighborhood. The rolling beauty parlor is in addition to the two regular beauty salon and spas for seniors located in Barangay Tejeros in District I and in Brgy. Comembo in District II.
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