Butuan City- The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD)-Caraga is reminding the general public to be cautious against persons collecting fees for registration to the Social Pension program.

Just recently, the Field Office received a report from the municipality of San Agustin, Surigao del Sur that a person named Charis Gonzales is collecting an amount of P1,500 and P3,000 to the senior citizens for registration to the Social Pension program.

After the report was verified, the Office also received another report that the same incident happened in Lianga, Surigao del Sur with a person of different name collecting registration payments.

With this, the Department would like to reiterate to the general public that there is NO payment for registration or enlisting to be beneficiaries of the said program.

The list of beneficiaries is taken from the Listahanan or National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR) database of DSWD and from the validated list provided by the local government units through the Office of the Senior Citizen Affairs (OSCA) and the Municipal Social Welfare and Development Office (MSWDO).

Regional Director Minda B. Brigoli reminds the general public, most especially our elderly Filipinos, to be extra careful with this kind of bogus.

“We encourage the public to help informing our elderly Filipinos about this and to report to DSWD or any law enforcing body anyone who collects fees for registration to the said program,” she said.

Mandated by Republic Act 9994 (Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010), the Social Pension is a regular cash transfer to older people through provision of monthly stipend amounting to Php500 every month. This is given to augment the daily subsistence and other medical needs of senior citizens.

It is implemented in all regions including the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and considers the 60 and above senior citizens with the following eligibility requirements: frail, sickly, or with disability, without pension from GSIS, SSS, AFPMBAI and other insurance company, and no permanent source of income or regular support from his/her relatives. ###(Social Marketing Unit/DSWD Field Office Caraga)