Lola Francisca Susano of Kabankalan, Negros Occidental who celebrated her 124th birthday on Saturday, Sept. 11, may expect P1 million from government as gift for being the oldest person alive on planet Earth.
Senior Citizen Partylist Rep. Rodolfo Ordanes filed House Resolution No. 2007 declaring the 124-year-old grandma the world’s oldest and proposing that she be exempted from the law that grants centenarians P100,000.
HR 2007 read: “Mrs. Susano shall be given a cash gift of One Million Pesos (PhP 1,000,000.00) as recognition of her monumental achievement and to help her and her family in their daily expenses and improve their wellbeing, especially during this pandemic.”.
Relatives of Susano, with the help of local leaders in Negros Occidental, have reportedly challenged the current listed record of the Guinness World Records Organization that named Japanese Kane Tanaka the oldest living person.
Tanaka, born on January 2, 1903, became six years younger after Lola Francisca celebrated her birthday last Saturday.
Guinness has listed Frenchwoman Jeanne Calment as the oldest person to have lived. She was 122 years, and 164 days old when she died on August 4, 1997.
Lola Francisca was reportedly born in 1897, in Kabankalan, Negros Occidental. It is on this year that the ice cream scoop was invented and radio inventor Guglielmo Marconi sent the first ever wireless communications over open sea.
Two months after Lola Francisca was born, the country’s national heroes Andres Bonifacio, Melchora Aquino and Emilio Aguinaldo established the Republic of Biak-na-Bato, a revolutionary government that sought an end to the Spanish rule in the country.
“From what I gathered, the Guinness World Records Organization already received the application and supporting documents that would pave way for Lola Francisca’s recognition as the World’s Oldest Living person,” said Ordanes.
Information about Lola Francisca indicated that she is a devout member of the Seventh-Day Adventist and a vegetarian.