With a smile on her wrinkled face, Editha exclaimed “Salamat at makakabalik giraray kami sa listahan” (Thank you that we are back on the “Listahanan”). She went inside and shared to his husband, Quintine, 85, the good news.

At the age of 81, Editha takes care of his bedridden husband. This makes her situation doubly difficult “ Nahulog siya sa hagdan tapos dai na siya nakalakaw” (He fell on the stairs which caused him to be unable to walk) Editha shared.

It is almost a year since his husband is always in bed. The family does not have financial resources either for the hospitalization or undergo intensive medical attention.

Out of the seven siblings, only Editha’s youngest son supports them for their daily subsistence. However, his earning as a tricycle driver is not enough to provide all their needs as he also has a family to take care of.

Her other children have their own families too and thus unable to help having insufficient income. What they earn is not even enough to provide the needs of their respective family.

Life is really hard for the Alegre couple.

Not losing hope

Editha and Quintine were beneficiaries of the social pension program of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) since 2011.

One of the provisions of Republic Act 994 known as the Expanded Senior Citizen Act of 2010 which provides indigent senior citizens with a monthly stipend of P 500 to help them in their needs such medical requirements and to meet their daily subsistence.

Social pensioners must be 77 years old and above, frail, sickly and disabled, without a regular source of income and/or support from any member of the family, and not receiving other pension benefits from government and private agencies.

“Dakulaon na tabang samo ang pension na nakukua mi sa DSWD, dahil digdi nakakabakal kami ning bulong asin iba ming mga kaipuhan na mag agom” (The pension that we received from DSWD is a big help to us. Because of it, we are able to buy medicines and our other needs) Editha happily shared.

However, sometime on January 2014, the pension that they are receiving from the government was put on hold. They were among the 10,643 social pensioners in Bicol who were found to be not in the list of DSWD’s Listahanan database of poor families.

The suspension of monthly stipends is based on the General Appropriations Act (GAA) of 2014 which includes a provision that only those in the DSWD’s NHTS-PR list, now known as Listahanan, can be paid.

An answered prayer

On May 2014, the Alegre couple undergone special validation administered by Listahanan, the DSWD’s information management system that identifies who and where the poor are.

After the enumeration and running of the Proxy Means Test (PMT), a statistical model that has the capacity to calculate the income of the households, it reveals that the Alegre couple is poor.

They can now again avail of the monthly pension from the government and enjoy the said benefit.

Editha expressed her joy for being back in the social pension program, this has given her something to look forward to each day of her life.###