Nearly 200,000 senior citizens in Manila started receiving their quarterly allowances on Monday, March 10.
The city government doubled the senior citizens' allowance to P1,000 per month, amounting to P3,000 per quarter.
Manila Mayor Honey Lacuna-Pangan attributed this increase to effective revenue collection and prudent management of city funds.
The city has shifted to a quarterly release schedule to improve the distribution process instead of the previous four-month interval.
The change follows improvements in the validation of the senior citizens’ registry.
For the March payout, 194,529 senior citizens from Manila’s six districts will receive their allowances:
District 1: 43,519 seniors
District 2: 27,539 seniors
District 3: 22,805 seniors
District 4: 31,077 seniors
District 5: 36,603 seniors
District 6: 31,986 seniors
Payouts for seniors in Districts 1 and 2 have begun, with the remaining districts to follow as scheduled by the Office of Senior Citizen Affairs (OSCA).
Each senior who has been registered since January will receive the full P3,000 quarterly allowance.
Seniors who turned 60 in February or March will receive a prorated amount based on the number of months they have been eligible.
Disbursements will be made in person through barangay-assisted distribution.
Barangay personnel and OSCA teams will also conduct home visits for seniors unable to attend the scheduled distribution.
The local chief executive explained that the debit card system was discontinued due to issues such as forgotten passwords and lost cards.
"With in-person releases, we ensure that every senior receives their allowance in full," she said.
She added that the new system is designed to ensure a smoother and more secure distribution of allowances to senior citizens across the city.