By Glazyl Y. Masculino
BACOLOD City – A senior citizen expired at a private hospital here after she fainted at the gymnasium of Barangay Villamonte where she was waiting for the distribution of the Social Amelioration Program (SAP) last Thursday.
Barangay Chairman Rommel Flores identified the fatality as Aurelia Magbanua, 87, of Purok Sabes of the said village.
Flores said Magbanua was accompanied by her daughter, who is a purok (sub-village) president, to the gymnasium past 10 a.m.
Although the venue was covered, Flores said that it was hot inside the crowded gymnasium.
He said the victim was at the evaluator’s table when she suddenly closed her eyes and was transferred to another chair to rest.
She eventually fainted and was rushed to the hospital by the rescuers who were on standby at the area.
Citing the elderly’s daughter, Flores said Magbanua died from lack of oxygen.
Earlier that day, Magbanua’s daughter told her that they will just go to the gymnasium in the afternoon, but the victim insisted on going that fateful morning because she was excited to get her P6,000 SAP allowance, which she was to share to her grandchildren, the barangay chairman added.
Flores said Magbanua was among the 4,386 beneficiaries included in the second tranche of the SAP allowance which is given by the national government to the poorest of the poor affected by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
He said they will visit SAP beneficiaries who had difficulty in going to the gymnasium for the distribution of the cash assistance.
Last May, the same incident happened at Barangay Tangub, when an elderly man also collapsed and died of cardiac arrest while waiting in line during the SAP distribution.
