Lola Amy Lancian all set to sell her ‘medicines’.

DAVAO CITY (DSWD XI) – “Medicines are not my daily dose but my daily source of income,” 70 year-old Lola Amy Lancian said.

Lola Amy solely depends on the medicines she sells to survive. Her husband died 26 years ago.

“Even at this age, every day I push myself to work from 1:00 to 8:00 in the morning just to sustain my daily needs.”

Every day is an enormous struggle for Lola Amy. She has to wake up very early to sell generic medicines in a busy market.

“Nagsugod ko og baligya aning mga generic nga tambal sukad namatay akoang bana para mabuhi lang mi sa akoang anak. Sa Bankerohan public market ang akoang adlaw-adlaw nga destinasyon (I started peddling generic medicines since my husband died so that my child and I could survive. My day to day destination is Bankerohan public market),” Lola Amy shared.

When her son died in 2002, Lola Amy was left alone. Old and unaccompanied in her house at SIR, New Matina, she strives to meet her needs. To date, she remains active and productive and refuses to stay put despite her age.

“Ginakompra nako akoang tambal sa generic nga botika, kadto lang mga pwede nga tambal. Daghan man pud mamalit kay barato lang man (I purchase basic medicines from a generic drugstore. A lot of people buy because it’s cheap),” Lola Amy said.

Every morning she has P 400.00 in her pocket as rolling capital in her small business.

“Lisod kaayo sa akoang katigulang wala koy karamay sa kinabuhi ug sa kalisod. Kinahanglan ko maningkamot para maka-survive ko (It is very hard at my age to be alone, with no one to lean on especially in difficult times. Thus, I need to strive hard to survive),” teary-eyed, Lola Amy conveyed.

Social pension

“Dako kaayo og tabang ang pension. Una nako nakuha P 4,500.00, natibo ang tulo ka quarters. Gipuhunan nako sa akoang mga tambal. Pati akoang maintenance sa diabetes mapalit na (Social pension is a great help. Initially, I received P 4,500.00 which covered three quarters. I then invested the amount in my small business. Also my maintenance for diabetes can now be had),” Lola Amy gladly reported.

Lola Amy received her first social pension in early 2015. From her pension, she also buys food and milk.

The Social Pension Program for Indigent Senior Citizens is one of the provisions under Section 5 of Republic Act 9994, otherwise known as the ‘Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010’, which provides P 500.00 monthly stipend to poor senior citizens to augment their daily subsistence and other medical needs.

Priority beneficiaries are senior citizens 65 years old and above who are frail, sickly and disabled, who do not have regular source of income and/or support from any member of the family, and who do not receive other pension benefits from government and private agencies.

Davao Region has 82,531 social pension beneficiaries presently. (DSWD)