No more long lines and hours of waiting for lolos and lolas in Biñan City, Laguna.
Last June 30, the city government under Mayor Arman Dimaguila and the City Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWDO) led by Olay Casbadillo oversaw what observers noted was a "fast and efficient" distribution of the city's landmark program: the local pension for its senior citizens.
Speedy distribution
Thanks to measures implemented by the CSWDO - including the installment of a barcode on the pensioners' Office of Senior Citizens Affairs (OSCA) identification card - the city government was able to speed up the process during payouts to less than five minutes.
To recall, Casbadillo said that this method of payment (unlike the now-accepted practice of having the pensions deposited on a bank ATM card) aims to reduce the amount of time Biñanense seniors spend on claiming their pensions.
“Ang paniniwala po natin ay ganito: kung inilagay natin sa ATM yung pension, parang ipinasa lang po natin sa machine yung pila ng tao, especially considering na limited ang machines dito sa Biñan,” she had explained to OpinYon Laguna last February.
“Naisip natin na humanap ng ibang strategy para mapabilis ang payout, and part of that is yung barcode sa OSCA ID nila para mapabilis ang kanilang identification.”
Advance notice
The city government's advance instructions and announcements to senior citizens and their authorized representatives also helped eliminate the usual long lines and crowding at the payouts, Dimaguila stressed in an interview with OpinYon Laguna.
"Una pa lang, naglabas na tayo ng instructions na huwag pupunta sa venue ng payout nang walang mga kaukulang forms na pipirmahan ng seniors, o di kaya yung picture nila na hawak ang form na kailangang i-print para sa mga authorized representative nila. Sa ganoong paraan, makasisigurado po tayo na yung representative po talaga yung authorized na mag-claim," the city mayor explained.
"And of course, huwag din po nilang kalilimutan na dalhin yung orange [OSCA] card nila bilang karagdagang patunay na sila ay pensiyonado ng lungsod ng Biñan," he added.
Meanwhile, Dimaguila also assured the over 5,000 Biñanense senior citizens who were "waitlisted" that they will also receive their pensions, through the office of Representative Len Alonte.
Enacted in 2020 during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, the local pension program aims to give the city’s senior citizens a P500 monthly pension to ease their expenses and augment the current pension programs of the national government.
This landmark program has earned the city government two awards – the GAPAS Award for Model LGU Implementing Social Pension for Indigent Senior Citizens and the Gawad Serbisyong Mahusay (Rank 1) award – from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) during its “Pagkilala sa Natatanging Kontribusyon (PaNata Ko) sa Bayan Awards” held last Feburary.
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