Senior citizen pension should be doubled to P1,000 -solon

The monthly social pension for indigent senior citizens should be increased to P1,000 from P500, a lawmaker said Friday.

Representative Rufus Rodriguez of Cagayan de Oro City made the proposal under his House Bill 7266 which amends the Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010, saying such a move is crucial amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

“P500 a month is not much. It’s not even enough for basic maintenance medicines,” Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez argued aside from the paltry amount, only 29 percent of the 7.5 million to 8 million senior Filipino citizens receive the allowance because of restrictive requirements.

Under existing law, a senior citizen can qualify for the social pension if he is “frail, sickly or with disability, and without pension or permanent source of income, compensation or financial assistance from his/her relatives to support his/her basic needs, as determined by the Department of Social Welfare and Development.”

“Because of these restrictions, millions of senior citizens are being deprived of the social pension they are entitled to,” Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez’s proposal amends the proposal by removing the phrase “frail, sickly and with disability” and without pension or assistance from relatives.

Instead, Rodriguez’s proposal provides that a senior citizen will be deemed qualified to receive a P1,000 monthly social pension as long as the senior citizen does not receive a pension from a public or private entity worth P4,000 or less in a month.

“The objective of the law is to recognize the rights of senior citizens to take their proper place in society and make it a concern of the family, community and government, and to give full support to the improvement of the total well-being of the elderly and their full participation in society,” he said.

Rodriguez earlier also called for a P1,000 hike on the monthly pension benefit of Social Security System pensioners. -MDM, GMA News