An Abra town has adopted an ordinance that will grant an annual cash aid to its centenarian residents even as the House of Representative has approved on final reading the granting PhP1 million to persons who reach the ripe age of 101.
In Municipal Ordinance No. 3 passed this week, the Dolores Sangguniang Bayan will be granting cash incentives to those who reached 100 years and the succeeding years.
For those who reached 100, they are entitled to a PhP5,000 aside from the cash reward from the provincial government and the PhP100,000 from the national government through the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
Those who get past 101 years will be getting PhP10,000, PhP15,000 for those who reach 102, PhP20,000 for those aged 103 and PhP5,000 for 104 years old and up.
This after the Lower House this week approved a bill that will grant PhP1 million to those who reach 101 years old.
House Bill 10647, which aims to amend Republic Act 10868 or the Centenarians Act of 2016, received the nods of all congressmen with no abstention or no votes.
If approved, those who celebrate their 101 years will get a cash reward of PHP1 million as well as a letter of felicitation from the President.
The law grants now PhP100,000.
In granting the amount, the proponents, including Bukidnon Rep. Manuel Zubiri, opined that only a few Filipino reach that age as they also hope to extend cash grants to Filipino octogenarians and nonagenarians.
“To provide our beloved senior citizens the motivation to live longer, as well as to aid them the means to purchase medicines and other necessities, this bill seeks to expand the coverage of Republic Act No. 10868 to include those Filipinos who have reached the age of 80 and 90 years old,” Zubiri said in a statement.
The bill provides that all Filipinos who reach the age of 80, 85, 90, and 95 years old shall receive PHP25,000 and a letter of felicitation from the President.
The National Commission of Senior Citizens shall be the lead implementing agency.
The funding for the implementation shall be sourced from the annual General Appropriations Act.
