PHILIPPINES: Senior citizens of Negros to get P15M in VAT Aid

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines (The Visayan Daily Star), August 8, 2008: By Carla Gomez About 30,000 Negrenses 75 years old and above will be the recipients of P15 million under President Gloria Arroyo’s “Katas ng VAT Tulong Para kay Lolo at Lola,” Negros Occidental Provincial Social Welfare Officer Liane Garcia said yesterday. Garcia said the provincial government was asked to submit the number of senior citizens in Negros Occidental who are 75 years and above who have no regular income and are not covered by the Social Service System, Government Service Insurance System or any other government insurance system. They will receive a P500 one-time subsidy each from the national government, she said. Senior citizens who qualify as one-time recipients should coordinate with the local social welfare officers in their areas so they can be covered by the program when the money arrives, Garcia said. “We estimate the number of senior citizens to be covered at 30,000 at 50 per barangay,” she said. President Gloria Arroyo at the launching of the “Katas ng VAT Tulong Para kay Lolo at Lola” last month said the cash subsidy program was being implemented “to support the special needs of the elderly in recognition of their valuable contributions to nation-building as well as ease their plight amid the increase in prices of basic commodities.” She has earmarked P500 million for the subsidy program, which will benefit one million senior citizens, she said. The program is being implemented nationwide by the DSWD in cooperation with the Office of Senior Citizens Affairs and local government units. Taken from the P4-billion expanded Value Added Tax collection last month, the one-time P500 subsidy is part of the various social services that the government has provided for the poor, including the elderly, thanks to the VAT, Arroyo said. www.visayandailystar.com