The Department of Social Welfare and Development in Central Visayas disclosed on Wednesday that 299,737 indigent senior citizens benefited from the monthly social pension program of the national government.

DSWD-7 regional director Shalaine Lucero said the indigent senior citizens received their P500 monthly stipend in 2023, adding that the P1.8 billion released represents 100 percent of the target number of senior citizens in the region.

The beneficiaries include 127,439 from Cebu; 99,490 from Bohol; 62,287 from Negros Oriental; and 10,521 from Siquijor. The number represents 7 percent of the four million indigent senior citizens in the country.

The payout was direct and the transfer of funds to 80 local government units that facilitated the distribution to their respective constituents.

Republic Act 11916 or Act increasing the Social Pension of Indigent Senior Citizens provides a 100 percent increase in the monthly stipend to help beneficiaries with the sustained price increase of various commodities.