QUEZON CITY Mayor Herbert Bautista on Wednesday said more than 30 beneficiaries of the death-benefit welfare assistance program received their P5,000 financial assistance from the Quezon City Office of Senior Citizens Affairs (Osca).
Bautista approved City Ordinance 2544, otherwise known as the Death Benefit Welfare Assistance Ordinance of 2016, on January 9, 2017. The assistance serves as a token of the QC government’s “sincere gratitude and great respect” for senior citizens who are considered as the living link to history up to the time of their demise.
The resolution targets about 400,000 recipients. The number of beneficiaries could possibly increase in the coming months.
Alberto G. Lucero, Osca administrative officer, said Ordinance 2544-2016 Section 6.1 states the death benefits, including the sudden surge thereof, could be taken from 1 percent of the city’s general fund allocated for the programs, projects and activities of registered senior citizens residing in Quezon City, subject to the availability of funds.
Under the provision, legitimate beneficiaries of deceased senior citizens shall receive at least P5,000 as death-benefit welfare assistance.
To receive the benefits, they must be able to present a QC Osca-issued Senior Citizens ID of the deceased, certificate of residency issued by the barangay, a copy of the death certificate, proof of relationship of the claimant and other necessary documents.
Only registered senior citizens of Quezon City whose relatives can prove sufficient requirements are allowed to receive the benefits.
Among the first batch of beneficiaries was Elsa Ramos, 81, from University of the Philippines Village. Ramos received the death benefit in behalf of her deceased husband.
“What I received will go to medicine and other needs,” Ramos said in Filipino.Â