INDIGENT VERSUS NEEDY

 

INDIGENT VERSUS NEEDY

When I was working as a Director of PCSO, I realized that there is not much of a difference between an indigent person and a needy person, and as a matter of fact, the two could be one and the same. In theory, PCSO should only provide financial assistance to indigent persons, but how could we say no to needy persons who do not appear to be indigents?

Applicants who ask for financial assistance from PCSO and who claim to be indigents are required to secure a Certificate of Indigency from their barangay chairman. Based on what I know however, most chairman would issue such certificates to almost anyone, knowing perhaps that most of their residents are needy, one way or the other.

I happen to know a lot of people who are technically not indigents because they are earning some incomes and may even happen to have some savings. The problem is, they lose their means of income when they get sick, and they often have no choice but to spend their savings for their treatments. That is how they become practically needy, even if they would still appear to be affluent.

Fortunately, the social workers of PCSO know their job very well, and somehow, they are able to sense that even if an applicant appears to be affluent, he or she might have become indigent already, because of the high costs of his or her treatments. As a matter of fact, they might have fallen below the poverty line already. IKE SENERES/03-15-2024

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