The city government of Makati said a former official representative of the Philippines to the Convention of the American Association of Port Authorities in New York in 1951 is among the latest Centenarian Awardees of the city.
Francisco Delgado, also a former Chancellor of the Mexican Consulate in Manila, was among the three centenarians to whom Mayor Abigail Binay gave a P100,000 cash gift and a plaque of recognition at the city hall on Monday.
Delgado was born on June 4, 1916 in San Pablo City. He married Carmencita Delgado and they had six children.
A pre-law graduate of San Beda College with a Bachelor of Science degree in Foreign Service and master’s degree in Political Science from the University of Santo Tomas, Delgado also served as aide-de-camp to the Philippine Army chief of staff and to the late Justice Jose Abad Santos.
The two other awardees were 102-year-old Maria Martinez and Paz Ramos, a mother of seven children.
Martinez was born on Sept. 14, 1913. Orphaned at the age of 13, she took on various jobs to feed her two-year-old brother. With great perseverance, she was able to support the schooling of her brother, who later became a certified public accountant. She married Francisco Martinez and their union was blessed with two children, one of whom is in New York City.
Ramos turned 100 years old on April 12, 1916. She has been residing in Barangay Bangkal since the 1960s. She has seven children, four girls and three boys.
Makati is the first local government to extend cash gifts to centenarians. Initiated by former mayor Jejomar Erwin Binay Jr., a total of 29 centenarians have so far been honored.
The awardees were able to meet the criteria set by the city’s social welfare department, the lead implementer of the BLU Card Program. Each candidate must be a Filipino citizen and a bona fide resident of Makati; must be 100 years old between January to December of the current year and have a BLU Card and White Card for at least five years.
For 2016, Makati has allocated P410 million for the cash gift and centenarian incentive. A total of 72,000 senior citizens are registered under the program.