When most people her age –or even younger – can hardly stand up unaided, this super “lola” from Iloilo City proves that at 82, she can still do productive activities in her community.

Lola Purificacion Ursal of Brgy. Yulo Drive, Arevalo, Iloilo City may already be an octogenarian but she still opts to spend her time helping fellow senior citizens and community members as a two-termer president of the Senior Citizens Affairs Office and an active Lupong Tagapamayapa member in their barangay.

She amusedly shared how at one time, she aided another senior citizen 20 years her junior to stand up from a chair.

“Ako pa ang nagtuytoy sa iya” (I was the one who assisted her),” she said. “Mas name pamatyag ko kung may gina-ubraako.  Kay kung sa balay lang ako gapahimuyong, daw mas galuya ako (I feel better when I’m doing something.  If I’m just at home, that’s when I feel weak,)” she added.

Ursal has five children, four of them already with families of their own.  Already a widow, Ursal now lives with her intellectually disabled daughter.

Without a regular income of her own, Ursal is thankful for her children who help provide for her needs.  But she admits she cannot depend on them all the time.

“They also have their children to think of and provide for.  One of them even has six children,” she said in the dialect.

Ursal receives P1,000 monthly honorarium as LupongTagapamayapa.  But this could hardly suffice their day-to-day expenses.

She said she is very grateful to the national government after she was qualified to avail of the Social Pension program through the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).  For two years now, Ursal is entitled to a monthly P500 pension which the DSWD releases quarterly.

In her group of senior citizens, 23 are also receiving pensions.  Of the 23, five were included in the Social Pension program of the national government while the rest are subsidized by the Iloilo City government, receiving P1,000 per year.

Ursal fondly recalled how she spent her very first pension.

“Around P500 went for my vitamins and medicines, particularly catapress for my hypertension.  The rest of the amount went mostly to food items. What is memorable was the opportunity for me to treat my grandchild for some ice cream,” she said with a smile.

“Kanami gid bala batyagon nga Makita mo ang batang a very happy kay nakakaon ice cream.  Subong, kada may release, gapalumbaanaysilangaupdanako kay may treatdayonsamaupod”(It touches me deeply seeing my grandchild very happy because I bought her some ice cream.  Now every time there is a scheduled release for our pension, they would readily present themselves to accompany me knowing that I would treat them after),” she added, noting that she now has 13 grandchildren and four great grandchildren.

For some, Ursal’squarterly pension may seem meager.  But for her, the assistance brought by this P1,500 is far reaching.

“I was able to sustain my regular vitamins which help keep me from ailments, and enabling me to actively attend to my responsibilities.  I have something to spend for my transportation should I need to process papers for my community members,” she said.

For her, being a social pensioner is a blessing… something that she needs to pay forward by helping her fellow senior citizens.

“Tungod kay nabuligan ako, gusto ko nga makabulig man ako sa akon pareho, samtang kaya ko kag asta masarangan ko, para mas madamo pa gid ang makabenepisyo (Because I was helped, I also want to reciprocate, while I still can and to the best of what I can do, so that many more will also benefit),” Ursal said.

At 82, Ursal shows that she can still contribute a lot for her community, proving that aging is not lost youth but a new stage of opportunity and meaning indeed./dswd6/Alma Jornadal-Estember