Eleazar vows to increase indigent seniors’ pension

MANILA, Philippines — Former national police chief Gen. Guillermo Lorenzo Eleazar is eyeing an increase in the pension of indigent senior citizens should he win in the coming senatorial race.

With rising prices of basic goods and services, Eleazar believes it is time to increase the pension of indigent senior citizens to help them purchase their needs, especially medicines.

“Many grandparents rely only on their monthly pension for their medicine expenses. Prices of goods go up but not their pension so I’d like to address this in the Senate,” Eleazar said.

“Increasing their monthly pension will greatly help them and their families,” he added. Senior citizens are getting at least P500 in monthly pension.

Aside from increasing the monthly pension, Eleazar said he would initiate improvements in health services in barangays for the benefit of senior citizens. “We should make health services accessible to them so that they don’t have to travel far to see a doctor or get medical treatment,” he added.

The retired police general added that he is open to giving job opportunities to seniors if they still want work despite their age. “There should be no discrimination at work just because of age. If they can still work, they should be allowed to pursue their careers,” Eleazar said.