• THERESA MAE DULMAN
The city’s Senior Citizen Center at the annex building of the Bacolod City Government Center (BCGC) was inaugurated June 29, and will be a centralized, one-stop hub to streamline essential services for the elderly.
The facility aims to improve accessibility and eliminate the need for senior citizens to travel between multiple government offices to secure social and medical assistance.
“We established this Senior Citizen Center so our seniors will have a place to go. Now, they can directly come here to avail themselves of the city’s services in one location without having to go from one office to another,” Mayor Greg Gasataya said.
The center consolidates core administrative and social services under the Office for Senior Citizens Affairs (OSCA).
“With this, we can now better cater to our seniors, especially since we have around 90,000 senior citizens in Bacolod, with more additional every day. What is important is that we take immediate action on their ladderized and social pensions,” OSCA head Bart Orola said.
It will process senior citizen identification cards in compliance with Republic Act 9994, or the Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010, and facilitate social assistance, including the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations and ladderized pension programs.
The facility also provides free health services, including medical and dental consultations, free medicines, tooth extractions, nutrition counseling, eye examinations with free eyeglasses, and a dedicated wellness area equipped with two massage beds.
Gasataya said the city government is also set to distribute 10 kilograms of rice to senior citizens 65 years old and above, who do not receive any social pension from the national government.
He said the distribution will be released in four tranches, starting this July and concluding in December.
The city will use its existing database, including the list of registered applicants for senior citizen IDs, to identify eligible beneficiaries, who currently do not receive any government financial aid.
The initiative is funded through the government’s “Bigay Bigas sa Masa” program. | TMD
