DBM: Social pension for seniors needs additional P46 billion budget

Providing universal social pension for 7.9 million senior citizens or those aged 60 and above in the country would need an additional P46 billion, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said Tuesday.

DBM official Nihal Abdulrauf made the disclosure during discussions on proposals to provide a P1,000 monthly social pension for all senior citizens, not just to indigent elderly.

“Based on our 2015 census, we have 7.9 million seniors, of which 3.8 are indigent. If all of them will be covered by the social pension, our technical bureau’s estimated budget requirement is P92 billion,” Abdulrauf told lawmakers during the public hearing conducted by the House senior citizens panel.

“The cost now is at P46 billion. In order to make it universal, we just multiplied P46 billion twice, that is why it is P92 billion,” she added.

On top of the P92 billion, the DBM official said 1.8% of the amount will be needed for the administrative cost of implementing the program.

Representative Mikaela Suansing of Nueva Ecija, one the authors of the bills seeking universal social pension for senior citizens, said that an additional P46 billion budget for such an initiative is feasible and worth it.

“We do believe, citing the number DBM said, that the additional P46 billion required by this measure is very much worthwhile. As I have said in my explanatory note, a lot of heads of households, who still take care of their dependents, are 60 years old and they are also the ones impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic,” she said.

“That is why this measure is very much needed at this time. We need to allocate more resources for our beloved senior citizens,” she added.

Based on the records of the Department of Social Welfare and Development submitted to the House panel, the number of indigent senior citizens covered by the P1,000 monthly social pension is already four million, while around 500,000 are waitlisted and are expected to be deemed eligible.

Nonita Red of the Office of the Senior Citizens Affairs in Albay stressed the need for the country's elderly to be "economically secure."

“This will be a dream come true. The seniors cannot live productively and meaningfully if they are not economically secure. This is for our total well being,” she said.—LDF, GMA News