Senate bill seeks P500 increase in monthly pension of indigent senior citizens

MANILA, Philippines — Senate President Vicente Sotto III has filed a bill seeking to raise social pensions for indigent senior citizens from the current P500 to at least P1,000 per month. 

Senate Bill No. 2243 would amend Republic Act 7342, doubling the P500 monthly stipend for indigent senior citizens "to augment [their] daily subsistence and other medical needs." 

The Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010 defines an indigent senior citizen as "any elderly who 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 (DSWD) in consultation with the National Coordinating and Monitoring Board." 

In his explanatory note, Sotto noted that there are close to four million indigent senior citizens in the Philippines as of 2019. 

"These are 3,796,791 individuals who are struggling to meet with their needs for basic commodities and healthcare due to lack of permanent source of income since they can no longer work fully and seek gainful employment." 

If the bill is enacted, the DSWD is directed to review the P1,000 monthly pension every two years, taking the consumer price index and other relevant economic indicators into account, subject to the approval of the Department of Budget and Management.  

— Bella Perez-Rubio