Is she the oldest residing Filipino? 

Meet the supercentenarian from Mendez Nuñez city in Cavite

CAVITE, Philippines – Genoveva Ferma Garcia of Mendez Nuñez city in Cavite celebrated her a hundred and tenth birthday final January 3, making the supercentenarian probably the oldest residing Filipino at current. 

An unofficial gerontology web page, which lists the oldest residing individuals within the Philippines since 1957, says Garcia — or Lola Bebang — now holds the report. 

Lola Bebang, who completed Grade 4, was a seamstress in her youthful years, and maintained a vegetable backyard together with her husband Sixto Garcia, a former waiter on the historic Taal Vista Lodge in Tagaytay Metropolis.

The couple was blessed with 9 kids, with two of them having gone earlier than the mother and father, plus 9 grandchildren and 4 great-grandchildren. 

For greater than a century, Lola Bebang barely caught any severe sickness, her kids mentioned. She was by no means taken to the hospital, and her solely diseases had been cough and flu. 

There’s a neighborhood fantasy that she carries amulets, however her kids mentioned it’s religion that retains her going. She nonetheless prays in Latin. 

A nutritious diet has helped too. Her kids mentioned Lola Bebang favourite is bulanglang, a vegetable stew common within the Southern Tagalog area, often paired with ripe mango for dessert.  

As of Monday, January 12, Lola Bebang was set to obtain a P10,000 incentive from the native authorities. Mendez social welfare officer Sherry Ann Sanio mentioned Lola Bebang has been receiving P10,000 since after she turned a centenarian in 2016. When she turned 100 then, she acquired P100,000 from the nationwide authorities and P50,000 from the provincial authorities of Cavite. 

The Centenarians Act (Republic Act 10868) and the Expanded Centenarians Act (RA 11982) present for the P100,000 incentive for senior residents who attain 100 years.

In response to a report by the Philippine Information Company, the Philippines has greater than 1,000 centenarians as of February 2025. A few of them are supercentenarians or those that have reached greater than 100 years outdated, particularly reaching 110 years outdated.

The report additionally mentioned there are extra feminine centenarians than males, the previous accounting for 75-80% of the whole. There’s a excessive focus of centenarians in Metro Manila, Cebu, Mindanao, and the Ilocos Area, it mentioned. – Rappler.com