PGLU provides assistance to the elderly

August 7, 2018 Provincial

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, LA UNION – The Provincial Government of La Union (PGLU), through the Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office (PSWDO), kick starts the re-enlisting of the new batch of qualified senior citizens as beneficiaries of the Enhanced Age to Golden Existence (E-AGE) program in La Union, under the administration of Gov. Francisco Emmanuel “Pacoy” R. Ortega III.
The city of San Fernando and the municipalities of Santol, Bangar, Sudipen, Tubao, and Luna have been validated with 3,410 evaluated Senior Citizens.
Recognizing the need of the elderly specially those who are indigent, the E-AGE Program of the PGLU was launched in the year 2006. It is one among the many practices of the PGLU, a program which is very unique in Region I and other regions for its continued implementation.
Consequently, the burial assistance under the E-AGE Program has alleviated the condition of financially handicapped families in facing their challenges in life. It helped underpin and support the bereaved family in their time of crisis and lessen their burden and predicament.
This program assures an indigent Senior Citizen that his/her beneficiary will be extended financial assistance upon his/her death to assist them financially during this time. To date, the E-AGE program has benefited 876 senior citizens out of the 2,938 E-AGE ID holders from 2006 to 2012.
To qualify as a recipient of an E-AGE ID card, a senior citizen must be indigent and is currently residing in La Union, priority are those single.
To claim the burial assistance of the E-AGE, a Senior Citizen’s beneficiary is required to present the deceased Senior Citizen’s E-AGE ID card along with their death certificate, certificate of indigency, social case study report, and receipts of expenses incurred during the wake and burial. All beneficiaries must be of legal age with valid IDs.
Under Republic Act No. 9994 otherwise known as the Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010, Filipino senior citizens are entitled to an additional government assistance provided as a “Death Benefit Assistance.” A joint Department of Social Welfare and Development – Department of the Interior and Local Government Memorandum Circular No.1, Series of 2012 was signed by both Department Secretaries to guide local government units in granting a P2,000 Death Benefit Assistance to the nearest surviving relative of a deceased indigent senior citizen, which amount shall be subject to adjustments due to inflation in accordance with the guidelines to be issued by the DSWD.
In pursuance to these mandates, the PGLU has decided to extend the Burial Assistance of P10,000 which is way above the mandated P2,000 to the surviving relative of every deceased beneficiary of the E-AGE ID card holder. ZENAIDA DEL MORAL SELLEM, GPC-PSWDO / ABN