At least two senators have openly expressed their support for the renewed push to propose increased social protection for the elderly through the creation of a universal social pension for senior citizens.
Detained Senator Leila de Lima said is imperative for the government to ensure that the country’s elderly citizens are well taken cared for.
“Our senior citizens have always been with us through thick and thin. They have suffered this pandemic with us,” De Lima said in her opening statement read during the hearing of the Senate Committee on Social Justice, Welfare and Rural Development presided by Sen. Joel Villanueva.
“They deserve to be given the opportunity to also be part of our country’s recovery program,” she said.
Currently, there are eight bills pending before Villanueva’s committee that are proposing additional benefits for the indigent elder Filipinos.
The bills, which include Senate Bill No. 570 authored by Sen. Nancy Binay and co-authored by De Lima, seeks to increse the present P500 pension to P1,000.
“This seeks to address the increasing prices of commodities especially due to the pandemic. I am in full support of this proposal,” De Lima said.
“The present limitation of the program has led to many truly indigent senior citizens to be unable to avail of this assistance because they have been unable to navigate through the bureaucratic maze of applying and qualifying for his program,” she stressed.
Villanueva echoed De Lima’s stance and vowed to pursue the passage of the measure into law.
“We will do everything to help our senior citizens. The Committee will work with our resource persons so that we can report this out to the Senate floor soon. Our elderly cannot wait long for this help from the government,” Villanueva said, during the public hearing on January 25 attended by the Departments of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Budget and Management (DBM) and Finance (DOF).