The local government of Manila is conducting consultative meetings to prepare for the last tranche of their cash allowance for senior citizens.

This comes as Manila Mayor Honey Lacuna directed the Office for Senior Citizens Affairs (OSCA) head Elinor Jacinto to conduct these meetings with the heads and officers of the city’s 896 barangays.

The purpose of the consultative meetings is to prepare the payrolls for the senior citizens’ allowance, which will cover the months of September to December 2024.

Each of the 203,000 senior citizens in Manila will receive P2,000 each, representing their P500 monthly allowance from the city.

Lacuna expressed her gratitude to the punong barangay, barangay secretary and authorized individuals who are preparing the updated senior masterlist for their barangays. She emphasized the importance of this activity for the timely distribution of the cash allowance.

The provision of the monthly cash allowance for senior citizens is part of the city government’s Social Amelioration Program (SAP), which was created by an ordinance passed by the Manila City Council during Lacuna’s time as presiding officer and vice mayor.

The SAP also provides monthly cash allowances for solo parents, persons and minors with disabilities, and students from the two Cory-run universities, the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (PLM) and the Universidad de Manila (UdM).

In other developments, the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP) has chosen actor Ramon San Diego Bagatsing — also known as Raymond Bagatsing — to run for mayor in the 2025 local elections. He will compete against incumbent Lacuna, comebacking Isko Moreno and nine other candidates.

Bagatsing and his councilors filed their certificates of candidacies (CoC) at the Comelec satellite office in SM Manila. The PFP-Manila group includes former 5th District Councilor Pablo Dario Gorosin Ocampo for Vice Mayor, and councilors from Districts 2, 4, 5 and 6.