A lawmaker on Sunday urged the Senate to act on a House bill seeking to double to P1,000 the monthly pension of some 3.8 million indigent senior citizens.
Rep. Michael T. Defensor of Anakalusugan made a call on the Senate to pass House Bill (HB) 9459, as a presidential proclamation designates October 1 to 7 of every year as Elderly Filipino Week, in honor of all citizens above 60 years of age.
“The bill is already with the Senate, after the House passed it in July. In fact, no less than Senate President Vicente C. Sotto III authored the counterpart Senate bill,” Defensor said. “Now would be a good time for the Senate to pass the bill while we are observing Elderly Filipino Week.”
The bill would amend Republic Act 7432, which maximized the contribution of senior citizens to nation-building and granted them benefits and special privileges, among others.
The measure seeks to enhance the capacity of indigent senior citizens to meet daily subsistence and medical requirements. It provides that the monthly stipend of indigent senior citizens would be augmented from P500 to not less than P1,000.
“We have a multitude of elderly Filipinos rearing their grandchildren whose parents have been driven to work overseas in search of greener pastures,” Defensor said.
HB 9459 mandates the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to review the monthly pension rate every two years, with a view to further raising the amount periodically, after taking into consideration the annual rate of increase in consumer prices.
“The P500-monthly allowance has been reduced into a pittance by the overall increase in the cost of living,” Defensor said. The lawmaker said that once the bill is enacted, Congress would be compelled to double to P47 billion the yearly budget for the DSWD’s Social Pension for Indigent Senior Citizens.
In the proposed P5.024-trillion General Appropriations Act of 2022, Defensor said the DSWD is getting only P23.5 billion to pay for the P500 monthly pension of poor seniors.
Centenarians
MEANWHILE, Defensor said a total of 7,322 Filipinos who have reached the age of 100 years old have already received their one-time P100,000 cash award from the national government since the passage of the Centenarians Law of 2016. “We in Congress are absolutely committed to sustain the funding for the P100,000 cash gift of all Filipinos who reach the age of 100 years old, whether residing in the Philippines or abroad,” Defensor said.
The lawmaker issued a separate statement on National Respect for Centenarians Day, which the nation observes every first Sunday of October under the Centenarians Law, or Republic Act 10868.
“In the 2022 national budget, we have provided another P135.8 million in new appropriations to pay for the P100,000 cash bonus of 1,358 Filipinos who are expected to turn 100 years old next year,” Defensor said.
Defensor said the P135.8 million is lodged in the budget of the DSWD, which hands out the cash grant.