By Ercel Maandig
Cagayan de Oro-The City Social Welfare and Development (CSWD) of this city has already approved the budget of an ordinance lobbied by City Councilor Girlie Balaba for the Social Pension of the indigent Persons with Disability (PWD) in this city.
In her special report on Monday during the city council’s regular session she said that CSWD already allocated an annual budget for the purpose that will start on January 2024 and goes yearly in the amount of Php500.00 per month or Php6,000.00 per year.
In an interview, Balaba said that she lobbied this proposal in the 19th council presided by then Vice Mayor Ranier Joaquin Uy in 2021 and was unanimously approved by the majority of the city council and then signed by Mayor Rolando Uy just last month.
She added that there are more than 2,000 indigent PWD’s that will benifit the law. The said Social Pension will take effect next year while the CSWD together with the Philippine Statistics Office and City Planning is still in a thoughrough consolidation of the total beneficiaries.
Balaba added that there are more than 3,000 PWD’s in the city but only those belong to the indigency category are qualified.
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