(The Freeman) Updated October 02, 2009 12:00 AM
CEBU, Philippines - Senior citizens in Cebu City will be evaluating whether Cebu City is on its way to become an “Aged Friendly City” or not.
Councilor Rodrigo Abellanosa, chairman of the Committee on Social Services, yesterday said that the elderly, as part of the Elderly Filipino Week, will attend a forum and workshop tomorrow on “Aged Friendly Cities.”
Part of the activities is to evaluate where Cebu City is in “aged friendliness” range through its features and infrastructures. Also invited to the forum, which will be held at the Grand Majestic along Archbishop Reyes Avenue, are engineers and planners of businesses and establishments.
“In the forum, it will be the senior citizens themselves who will voice their hopes and dreams in growing old here, there will be a refocus according to their needs,” Abellanosa said.
The event will be held in coordination between the Cebu City Senior Citizens Council and Golden Center of Cebu.
According to Abellanosa, communities around the world are in the midst of a major demographic transformation.
“In the next two or three decades the City’s population will be over the age 60; older adults will outnumber school children. The time is now to plan for the aging population,” he stressed.
There are around 20,000 senior citizens in Cebu City.
In Central Visayas, 319,782 of the population are older persons and in the entire Philippines there are now 4.6 million senior citizens who comprise 6.4 percent of the country’s total population. This number is expected to rise to 11.1 million by 2025.
This year’s theme for the Elderly Filipino Week is “Nakatatanda: Dangal at Yaman ng Bansa Noon at Ngayon.” — Ferliza C. Contratista/WAB (FREEMAN NEWS)
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