Twenty three indigent senior citizens were granted social pension by the City Social Welfare and Development (CSWD) in Victorias City in August.
These seniors are all 77 years old and above; are not receiving any pension from SSS, GSIS and etc., or any monthly allowances/allotment from the family; and are living alone and sickly.
Social Pension for Indigent Filipino senior citizens is in-line with the fulfillment of the obligation of the government to protect the most vulnerable sector through social protection, and for the full implementation of the Republic Act No. 9994.
Republic Act No. 9994 or the “Expanded Senior Citizen Act of 2010” amended the previous RA9257 “Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2003”, institutionalizes social protection by providing monthly stipend to indigent senior citizens and supports family to provide care to their sick and disabled senior citizens.
The program intends to improve the living condition of eligible indigent senior citizens through the release of stipend @ P500.00/month; to augment capacity of indigent senior citizens to meet their daily subsistence and medical requirements; to reduce incidence of hunger among indigent senior citizens; and to protect indigent citizens from neglect, abuse or deprivation.
Regular cash transfers also increase poor older people’s access to services, particularly health care. As older people live and share resources with younger family members, social pensions have a substantial impact on child well-being and the achievement of Millennium Development Goals 1-6 social pensions contribute to increased school attendance and better nutrition among children. They can play an important role in breaking intergenerational poverty cycles (Help age 2009).
This is designed in such a way that the poorest senior citizens are covered and protected from loss of income and underemployment as a result of illness, injury, disability, harvest failure, etc. (ADB 2006).
There are estimated 6.3 million elderly Filipinos aged 60 years old and above as of CY 2010 based on the National Statistical Coordinating Board (NSCB) Medium Assumption Population Projection.
Older persons comprise a little over six percent of the total population, but this proportion is expected to higher than 10 percent by 2020 as the number of older person’s doubles by that time (NEDA, Philippines Population projection 1980 – 2030).
Based on the National Statistical Coordinating Board (NSCB 2006) poverty estimates the basic sectors, the magnitude of the poor senior citizen is 1,297,159 and it posted the second largest percentage points of 1.9% increase next to the children sector.
The Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao posted the highest poverty incidence of senior citizen which is at 46.6% and the most number of poor senior citizens are from Regions V, VI and VII (NCSB 2006).
The Philippines has made great strides in promoting the welfare of its people and has ensured the continued participation in development by legislating national policies in response to the emerging needs of the Filipino senior citizens. By: Gari Policarpio/DSWD
