Her body demands a break, but as a breadwinner, 71-year-old Cordella Balbero cannot afford a day without work.
“My knees are not as robust as they used to be, and my vision has already started to fade,” she said in Cebuano. “But I have to keep going.”
After her son and daughter-in-law died in a road accident a few months ago, four of her grandchildren were left under her care. Nobody has helped her with the expenses after her husband passed away due to heart attack.
To make a living, Cordella wakes up at 4:30 in the morning and bargains vegetables from the Carbon Public Market before she resells it on a street in Lilo-an, Cebu.
In a day’s work, her income ranges from 300 to 500 pesos — taking home only 200 pesos after paying her stall rent and debts.
“If I don’t borrow money, I can’t send the kids to school,” Cordella explained.
All her grandchildren are enrolled in Yati Elementary School, and one of them is moving to high school soon. This makes her proud yet worried at the same time since she needs a bigger budget to keep up with their growing needs.
To make sure that no one drops out, Cordella has had to do some penny-pinching. “I only eat bread and water for lunch. I also don’t mind falling in line to buy NFA rice.”
That’s why she breathed a sigh of relief when she learned about the Social Pension Program for Indigent Senior Citizens (SPISC).
This is the additional government assistance and monthly stipend in the amount of Five Hundred Pesos from the Department of Social and Welfare and Development (DSWD). The department provides the cash subsidy to the social pensioners on a quarterly basis or 1,500 pesos per quarter, totalling to P6,000 for one year.
SPISC is in accordance to the Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010 or Republic Act 9994, which specifies that only those who are “frail, sickly or with disability; without any pension from other government agencies; and without a permanent source of income or source of financial assistance/compensation to support their basic needs” can meet the requirements.
Cordella passes the economic qualifications, however, she cannot smoothly sign up for the program because her birth certificate is missing.
It took her awhile to retrieve a copy from the National Statistics Office.
“I felt intimidated because I can hardly read and write, but I went anyway because I need the money.”
She has already been to the office for multiple times yet to her dismay, her birth certificate remains unavailable until now.
“They told me that the processing really takes time. I just have to be patient.”
Considering the nature of her work, patience is not something new for Cordella. Though, she wishes to get the document as soon as possible, the only thing she can do is wait and continue working hard for her grandchildren.