Councilor Pastor Alcover Jr. said it is high time to determine the truth behind allegations of irregularities in the payout of cash assistance granted by the city government to senior citizens.

“This problem has been going on for some time now because we heard this before. Why does it persist? We want to know why,” Alcover said.

Alcover said he had previously received complaints about senior citizens being denied the city-government cash assistance notwithstanding the fact that they have been qualified and were included in the list of recipients.

He cited the cases of two senior citizens from Barangay Mambaling who failed to receive anything during the most recent payout.

Under the city government’s cash assistance program for senior citizens, qualified elderly persons must receive PHP3,000 for each quarterly or a total PHP12,000 for the whole year.

At least 90,000 city seniors were listed and should have received their money from the Office of the Senior Citizens Affairs (OSCA) of Cebu City.

A total PHP272 million in cash assistance was distributed last month.

Alcover vowed to start with the probe and try to come out with results before the next payout is conducted in June.