BY MERLINDA A. PEDROSA

Around 40,000 senior citizens in Bacolod City are set to receive 40 kilos of rice each under the national government’s “Sa Bagong Pilipinas, Bawat Bayan Makikinabang” program.

Mayor Greg Gasataya said each beneficiary will receive the assistance in four tranches, with 10 kilos of rice to be distributed per tranche.

The program is being implemented by the city government to assist senior citizens aged 65 and above who are not receiving social pensions from either the national or local government.

Gasataya said the distribution started last week, benefiting 8,942 qualified senior citizens from several barangays.

He added that the city government aims to complete the distribution across all 61 barangays in the city.

“We are thankful to the national government and to everyone who helped make this possible, especially President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr. and the Department of the Interior and Local Government,” Gasataya said.

The mayor noted that while about P100 million is allocated annually for the social pension program, only around 20,000 of the city’s estimated 94,000 senior citizens currently receive the benefit.

“That is why we decided to provide rice assistance to senior citizens who are not covered by the social pension program,” he said.

Gasataya said the rice distribution will be carried out over six months beginning this July to help ease the daily expenses of elderly beneficiaries./MAP, WDJ