Around 300,000 indigent senior citizens in Central Visayas have benefitted from the PHP1.8 billion monthly social pension program of the national government.

Shalaine Marie Lucero, regional director of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD)-Region 7, said Wednesday there were about 299,737 indigent senior citizens who received their PHP500 monthly stipend in 2023 through the agency’s social pension program.

The amount of payout released represents 100 percent of the target number of senior citizens in the region, she said.

The agency in the region distributed the amount to the beneficiaries through direct payouts and the transfer of funds to 80 local government units that facilitated the distribution of the stipend to their respective constituents.

Of the total number of beneficiaries, 127,439 were from Cebu; 99,490 from Bohol; 62,287 from Negros Oriental; and 10,521 from Siquijor.

The number represents 7 percent of the 4 million indigent seniors around the country who are on the list.

Republic Act 11916 or Act Increasing the Social Pension of Indigent Senior Citizens provides a 100 percent increase in the monthly stipend to help beneficiaries with the sustained price increase of various commodities.

The social pension program covers indigent elderlies who are frail, sickly, or have a disability, or those who have no permanent source of income or regular support from their family, and must have no pension from government or private agencies. (PNA)