- GILBERT P. BAYORAN
All Filipinos reaching the ages of 80, 85, 90, and 95 are entitled to receive a cash gift amounting to P10,000, Cavite 2nd District Rep. Lani Mercado-Revilla said during her visit to Negros Occidental on Wednesday (May 1).
Her husband, Senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr., who chairs the Senate committee on civil service, authored Republic Act 11982, which seeks to grant benefits to Filipino octogenarians and nonagenarians, apart from centenarians
It was signed into law by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Feb. 26 this year.
Mercado-Revilla represented her husband at the 35th Ugyonan Festival of E.B. Magalona celebration, where she was welcomed by municipal officials led by Mayor Marvin Malacon.
Mercado-Revilla called on senior citizens to coordinate with the local Office of Senior Citizen Affairs to avail of such benefits as she expressed hopes that it will be funded under the proposed 2025 national budget.
To effectively implement the provision of the law, an Elderly Data Management System shall be maintained by the National Commission on Senior Citizens.
“This is to ensure that all qualified beneficiaries shall receive the benefits they are entitled to receive,” Revilla Jr. said in an earlier statement.
“With all the things our elders have done for our country, we should assure that they will receive all the honor and benefits they deserve,” the senator added. | GB
