Seniors flock to Manila City hall to register for, claim benefits

A significant number of senior citizens flocked to the Manila City hall on Tuesday to apply for an online payment account and claim benefits the city was providing to the elderly.

In Tina Panganiban-Perez’s report on “24 Oras,” 78-year-old Adela Samonte went through all the trouble of lining up at the Office of the Senior Citizen’s Affairs (OSCA) despite having trouble walking.

Samonte said she was unaware that an application event had been organized at her barangay.

“Nabigyan na po doon nung nakaraan. Nung nagtanong po ‘yung anak ko ay tapos na. Binigyan po kaming certificate na pupunta na lang po sa bahay namin at interviewhin, wala naman pong nadating. Kaya pumunta na lang po kami dito,” she said.

Meanwhile, 69-year-old Milwida Ebitner went to the city hall after she failed to get registered at her barangay.

“Pumila po ako kasi ine-expect ko andoon ‘yung pangalan ko. Nung nasa table na kao, wala pala ‘yung pangalan ko roon. Hindi naman nila alam kung sino-sino gumgagawa ng mga listahan kaya wala daw silang alam kung bakit wala ‘yung pangalan namin,” Ebitner said.

Carina Uy, 68-years-old, explained that she received a text message which said that the benefit had been deposited in her account. However, there was nothing in the account when she checked.

“Hindi po ako nakakuha… nag text po sa anak ko sa cellphone. Wala pong laman zero-zero kaya po ako pumunta dito,” Uy said.

While city officials did their best to make the seniors comfortable, the queue had gotten so long that it looped around the lobby several times.

The Manila OSCA said the lines kept getting longer as it took them up to 52 minutes to explain to each senior citizen how to use the online payment account and how to connect to it using their cellphones.

“Ang mga senior po kasi nung time nagpa-register may cellphone numbers po silang binigay. The problem po nung ire-register na sila sa app, iba na ‘yung cellphone numbers na ginamit nila,” Elinor Jacinto, OSCA administrative officer, said.

“Actually, hindi naman po talaga namin pinapunta dahil nga po may pandemic. Kaya lang po hindi po namin masabi kung maalam rin ‘yung mga barangay,” Jacinto added.

“Kasi nga po may guidelines naman pong dapat sundin na sana po ‘yung mga anak nila… or immediate relatives po matulungan man lang po sila mai-register through apps. Hindi po nila binasa, akala po nila basta ipapasok si ATM card sa machines,” she added. — Joahna Lei Casilao/DVM, GMA News