MANILA Mayor Honey Lacuna is now part of the senior citizen community in Manila numbering over 200,000, as she celebrates her 60th birthday on May 6, Tuesday.
Lacuna was surprised with greetings, flowers and gifts by city officials and employees led by City Administrator Bernie Ang during the regular flag raising ceremony on Monday, a day before her birthday.
Highlighting the occasion was the presentation to her of a giant replica of the senior citizen card issued to her by the Office of Senior Citizens’ Affairs (OSCA) head Elinor Jacinto and her staff.
The lady mayor said that for her birthday wish, she simply wants for her to be able to continue serving Manilans and to carry out all the programs lined up for their benefit under her administration.
Lacuna also expressed hope that in the next three years, her administration will be able to collect more revenues to be able to help more residents in the coming years.
After doubling the monthly allowance of senior citizens in the city from P500 to P1,000 a month, Lacuna said she intends to work hard on doing the same for the other sectors included in the city’s social amelioration program (SAP).
Lacuna had also ordered the conversion of their birthday cakes into cash, as per request of the seniors themselves, noting that aside from the cakes being overpriced, most of the elderly already suffer from sugar-related illnesses like diabetes.
Through the said program, persons with disability (PWDs), solo parents, minors with disability (MWDs) also receive monthly cash aid from the city at P500 while students from the Universidad de Manila and Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (PLM) get P1,000 a month.
