TRUE to executing the whole of government approach, the Commission on Population and Development (CPD) in Region 10 led by director Neil Aldrin Omega is focusing on the welfare of senior citizens, too.
Speaking during the observance of the National Elderly Filipino Week October 6 at SM CDO Downtown in Cagayan de Oro City, Omega presented the study co-commissioned with the Capitol University Research Extension Office comparing the well-being of senior citizens in urban and rural areas in Northern Mindanao.
The study which was conducted in 2025 concluded that senior citizens in urban areas have a median monthly income of P10,000 as compared to only P6,000 for those who are living in rural areas here.
Omega said the results of the study are important for government, especially the local government units (LGUs), to strengthen their approach in taking care of their senior citizen constituents.
Along this line, Omega said the CPD is more than willing to help and even offered to teach LGUs, specifically their Office on Senior Citizens Affairs (OSCA), on how to make a registry of barangay inhabitants and migrants that must be updated each year.
Omega said that through the survey, they now discover that there is a need for senior citizens in the region to know whom to approach for their specialized geriatric services especially mobility concerns.
He added that ideally, each municipality and city must have its own home for the aged facilities for people who don’t have family support anymore.
Omega said the results of the study will be forwarded to the social development committee of the Regional Development Council (RDC) for proper action.
Already intended to arrest population growth at the level of parental planning, the role of CPD has evolved as the government’s population program has yielded significant results.
Per Memorandum Circular 40-2023, CPD is now tasked to address population-related challenges across all ages.
Omega said that he is particularly curious on the effects of urban migration in cities and whether it would strain existing social services resources in such places as Cagayan de Oro and Butuan.
Omega is also the concurrent regional director of CPD Caraga which oversees population concerns in five provinces.
