PRIMARILY because of her very significant role during the pandemic as health cluster head, her efforts to provide free healthcare, monthly financial assistance and jobs as well as ensuring friendly facilities all for the benefit of senior citizens, Manila Mayor Honey Lacuna got the endorsement of the Senior Citizens Party-list, which also said that she is the kind of mayor “that Manila deserves now and in the coming years.”
Herself also turning senior on May 6, Lacuna thanked Senior Citizens Party-list Rep. Rodolfo Ordanes for the endorsement, with an assurance that her administration will continue the existing benefits of the elderly and even enhance them in the years to come.
Lacuna said she is humbled by the said endorsement, which she is taking as a recognition of the effectiveness of all the programs that had been laid out by her administration for the senior citizens.
“Ang pagtanggap ng endorso mula sa Senior Citizen Partylist ay hindi lamang karangalan, kundi isang paalala sa akin na dapat ay ipagpatuloy ko ang tunay at tapat na serbisyo sa ating mga lolo at lola,” Lacuna said.
It was learned that Ordanes made the endorsement during a progam attended by all the leaders and members of the Senior Citizens Partylist, where he commended Lacuna’s performance results, especially for senior citizens, saying she is “an example for all mayors to emulate.”
The Congressman also cited Lacuna for her “a sterling track record of championing elderly rights and welfare,” saying: “Sa mga kapwa ko senior citizen na botante ng Lungsod ng Maynila, iboto po ninyo at ikampanya pa, ang kandidato pagka-Mayor na may nagawa na at TAPAT at TOTOONG may malasakit para sa kapakanan ng mga senior citizens – si Doktora Honey Lacuna!”
Ordanes also reminded voters: “Sa balota po, number 5 si Mayor Lacuna at number 89 naman ang Senior Citizens Party-list.”
“Mayor Honey Lacuna is the best, most consistent and most effective among those vying for the Manila chief executive post. She is the only city mayor in the country I am aware of who matched the P1,000 monthly stipend for senior citizens from the DSWD,” Ordanes said, adding that in May, Lacuna will already join the ranks of senior citizens herself.
The Congressman stressed that because of Mayor Lacuna, the senior citizens of Manila will now get in stipend and city allowance a total of P24,000 every year, with P12,000 coming from Manila city government and the other P12,000 from DSWD.
“None of the other candidates can boast of this accomplishment,” Ordanes stated, also noting how Lacuna has proactively generated jobs for seniors, retirees and persons with disability (PWDs) and how even having senior citizen dependents in a household is a factor in choosing homeowner-beneficiaries for rent-to-own condominium units in the city.
According to Ordanes, it was Lacuna, in her capacity as a doctor who actually understands the needs of seniors and families, who modernized Manila’s local public health system “in ways no other mayor before her has achieved.”
“It was, in fact, Mayor Lacuna who saved Manila from the COVID pandemic because she was the one who actually did the hard work to make the capital city’s health care system work well. I credit her because she deserves the credit,” Ordanes said.
During the pandemic, Lacuna was in charge of the operation of Manila’s six district hospitals, 44 health centers and even the COVID hospital. She also was on top of the city’s vaccination program, spearheading it herself.
Lacuna also went to the homes of senior citizens and the bedridden to vaccinate them against COVID at the height of the pandemic.
