MANKAYAN, Benguet – Five-term Mayor Materno R. Luspian assured the possible legislation of bills that will advance the welfare of senior citizens, persons with disabilities and other marginalized sectors of the country to empower them to become productive individuals who will contribute in the growth and development of the archipelago as one of the fastest developing nations in the world.
Luspian, who is eying the province’s lone congressional seat which will be vacated by 5-term Rep. Ronald M. Cosalan, said one of his priority legislative measures will be bills to improve benefits for the members of the marginalized sectors neglected by government.
For senior citizens, he claimed that he will initiate the filing of a bill that will allow and authorize the granting of 50 percent of the current existing centennial bonus amounting to P100,000 to senior citizens who will reach the age of 80, the additional 25 percent will be released when the senior citizen reaches the age of 90 and the remaining 25 percent will be given to the senior citizen who will be able to survive and reach the age of 100, plus added benefits when they reach certain years over the century mark.
“Our senior citizens deserve to be provided with the utmost benefits that will be authorized by our laws so we intend to work on how to increase the benefits and privileges they could enjoy for the remaining years of their lives,” Mayor Luspian stressed.
The local chief executive underscored that local officials know and understand the plight of the members of the marginalized sector and his priorities will be how to advance the welfare of those who had been marginalized through the years once the people of Benguet gives him a chance to seat as the province’s representative to the House of Representatives.
According to him, government must address the plight of the marginalized sectors to empower them to contribute in advancing the country’s growth and development even if such contributions are considered by experts as negligible as what is important is that the sectors are able to pitch in to the overall picture.
Earlier, Luspian was recognized by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) as one of the Most Outstanding Municipal Mayors last year in terms of facilitating the delivery of social services through the government’s social pension program and the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, among other institutionalized social services and interventions that were put in place for the said purpose.
He was given the said recognition because of the way the municipal government he currently heads attended to the welfare of the recipients of the social pension program and the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino program with the municipality going out of its way to make sure the recipients are well-attended aside from providing them with entertainment and socialization before being brought back to their respective residences.
Mankayan is a first class municipality in the northern part of Benguet deriving the bulk of its income from the operation of a large-scale mining company.
By HENT