Not everything in Davao City speaks well of its slogan “Life is Here”
In the cramp office of senior citizens at the ground floor of the Sangguniang Panglungsod building are throngs of aged people lining up and seated in plastic chairs in a narrow isle that leads to the public toilets.
The Office of Senior Citizens Affairs is at the ground floor of the city legislative building where the business registrations, and treasury tax and collections transactions are processed. The city civil register’s office is located here too. At any given time when the offices open, the place is swarming with people. Despite the condition the place is relatively comfortable as there are enough benches and functioning air conditioners in the hall.
The OSCA however is another story. Last Wednesday my friend, broadcast media journalist Manny Cabrera, who just turned 80, and I went to the office of the senior citizens. It is located in the south end corner which to my estimate is about 100 square meters.
The area is shared by a number of office personnel including some basic office equipment. There are only two guest chairs being shared by all. The rest of the guests with business at OSCA have to line up outside the narrow isle leading to the toilets that cater to thousands of people that have transactions in various offices in the ground floor.
That is as far as the OSCA situational condition and environment are concerned.
My friend who finally joined me in the pre-departure area were at OSCA to claim the ₱10,000 consolation prize having reach the aged 80. We have heard about it and since both of us have only over a thousand pesos between us and poverty we agreed to park somewhere and walk the distance of about 2 kms away from the OSCA office.
The gentleman who attended to us was accommodating he helped us how to fill up the claims form which consist four pages the text of which is just about 8 fonts. Since the office needs a duplicate, we exited momentarily from the office and crossed the busy street to have our photos taken and to xerox the forms.
Having done that, we were directed to open an account with the OSCA depository bank which, luckily my friend and I already have an active accounts. I have my bank book with me but I was told it would not suffice. We still have to get a certificate from the bank that indeed we have a Land Bank Account.
Imagine two elderly balding friends walking the distance of two kilometers to get to Land Bank to secure a certificate to prove we have deposit accounts. For OSCA a Land Bank booklet with active accounts is not valid. Only a certificate will do.
When finally we got to the bank, we found out that there were other elderly people ahead of us waiting for their bank deposit certificates. A sympathetic bank official who attended cannot help but express her concerns. She said she cannot understand why senior citizens have yet to go to the bank to secure a bank account certificate when OSCA could just issue a check to the recipients who had gone through validation process. The certificate, she explained, is an extraneous requirement for even if the recipient cannot pass the validation requirement of OSCA he or she will not be entitled to the Senior Citizens reward.
The suggestion of the Land Bank official makes sense. Looking at my fellow “citizens”, some of whom have to be assisted while walking, the very least that the Senior Citizens Commission can do is for OSCA to validate the claimants’ records and authorize OSCA to proceed to issue the corresponding check which can be encashed or deposit at Land Bank by the recipient.
That is as far the Senior Citizens Commission and money matters are concerned.
The venue of OSCA is another story. In Davao City, either the City Mayor’s office or the City Council ought to take cognizance of the plight of senior citizens. The OSCA office is literally under their nose but nobody seems to mind the office condition and the plight of the seniors.
If I may suggest, relocate the OSCA office elsewhere where there is enough space and an environment that is senior citizen-friendly. The city has the means and it should have a space in the officials’ hearts.
Among the doable measures is to construct an annex building at the adjacent Osmena Park. A connecting opening to the existing building where OSCA is situated will definitely ease the congestion in the OSCA office. A 150 sqm -area for the annex building will suffice.
