SAGADA’S growing population of seniors requires a new and spacious building of its own to hold activities directed toward the achievement of its welfare, a staff at the Office for Senior Citizens Affairs (Osca) in this tourist destination said in a recent interview.
Sagada’s senior citizens borrow the spaces of the different offices of the municipal government of Sagada in holding their assemblies and meetings, Roshelle C. Linggayo said.
They have to climb the steps to the upper floors of the local government building to convene their regular meetings and the general assembly, she said.
Their old building, which used to serve as a venue for their meetings and activities, has long become too small to accommodate their growing number, she added.
Sagada currently has 1,225 registered seniors from its 19 barangays, Linggayo noted. About 400 are members of the municipal federation of senior citizens, and a total of 202 receive quarterly the P500 monthly pension from the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
The number of seniors will continue to grow, as about five people apply for registration daily, she said.
A new and spacious building will also serve as a venue of interaction and cooperation among the town’s older citizens, who wish to make themselves useful in their private life and for the community.
Sagada seniors, at their retirement age, continue doing their share in building their town, Linggayo said. They are involved in a clean and green drive in their respective barangays.
In Barangay Poblacion, the center of the town, the seniors pick up garbage on the streets littered by tourists, she said.
They are most occupied on street cleaning during the Holy Week due the volume of tourists that come from different parts of the country and the world, she said.
They also help the local government clean up the streets after the celebration of the town fiesta in February.
Despite their continuing services in the community, which deserve due recognition, their fare-discount privilege has not been and continues to be not honored by some public-utility jeepneys that run from the town to Bontoc, the capital of Mountain Province, Linggayo said.
The Osca in Sagada expressed dismay over the refusal of some jeepney drivers to honor the seniors’ privilege.
The Land Transportation Office (LTO) in the province assured Osca they will deal with this issue, Linggayo said.
Meanwhile, Sagada Mayor Eduardo T. Latawan Jr. has been aware of the need of the senior citizens in his city for a new and spacious building, she said.
But the town currently has not enough fund in its coffers to finance the construction of the building, Linggayo added.
Image credits: Oliver Samson