TABUK CITY, Kalinga – Councilor Ivan Yannick Bagayao has filed an ordinance that seeks to give medical cash assistance to senior citizens.
The proposed ordinance that provides for “Monetary Medical Assistance to Registered Senior Citizens (MMARSS) in Tabuk City and providing funds thereof” was approved on first reading during the regular session of the City Council on August 9, 2022.
Under the proposed ordinance, registered seniors from all forty-three barangays would receive a monetary medical assistance based on their age bracket: 60-69 years old, Php 1,000; 70-79 years old, Php 1,200; 80-89 years old, Php 1,500; and 90 years old and above, Php 2,000.
The assistance would be distributed semi-annually, with the first half being distributed each year in July and the second half in December.
“The mounting expenses for medicines and other medical concerns of senior citizens as their age advances make their monthly pensions, if any, hardly sufficient to tide them over. This condition is true to most of the city’s senior citizens, particularly those belonging to the older groupings who are in more fragile state of health, but not necessarily the least grateful for the privileges that come with their realization of how much the city genuinely and truly care for them in their twilight years,” Bagayao stated.
“Assistance in a form of monetary allowance would be of great help for senior citizens to augment their expenses in medicines and other treatment,” he said.