The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD-6) has so far served 44 percent of the beneficiaries of the Social Pension for Indigent Senior Citizens program in Western Visayas.
Of the 385,954 target beneficiaries in the region, 168,735 received their cash assistance for the first semester of 2023 as of March 29.
Under Section 5 of Republic Act (RA) No. 9994 or the Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010, each indigent senior citizen is entitled to get P500 every month or P3000 every every six months.
DSWD-6 disbursed P506 million of the more than P2-billion budget for the implementation of the program.
The province of Iloilo has the most number of beneficiaries in the region with 152,748 indigent senior citizens, followed by Capiz with 56,265; Negros Occidental, 54,403; and Aklan, 46,148.
Antique has 41,972 beneficiaries; Guimaras, 14,767; Iloilo City, 13,676; and Bacolod City, 5,975. IMT
