With the lapsing into law of a bill that increases the monthly pension of indigent senior citizens from P500 to P1,000, House Deputy Speaker Ralph Recto urged both the executive and legislative branches to find the P25 billion needed to make the bill’s promise into reality.
That is the P25-billion question, the lawmaker said in a statement, explaining that the Social Pension for Indigent Seniors Program covers 4,079,669 seniors and would cost taxpayers P25.01 billion annually.
“If the bill doubling the monthly P500 pension to P1,000 has lapsed into law, then it would mean that the budgetary requirement will also double to P50 billion,” Recto said.
The Batangas 6th district representative added that the fund would need to be inserted into the 2023 national budget that Malacañang will soon submit to Congress.
“If no funding provision will be made in next year’s proposed appropriations, which is understandable as the budget preparation by the executive is now at its last mile and only the finishing touches are being applied, then it will be up to Congress to save the law from ending up as an unfunded mandate,” he furthered.
He said this can be tackled in the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) meeting, which he would recommend to President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.
Noting that the P50 billion only covers the seniors presently enrolled in the program, Recto stressed that the government might need P60 billion to enroll all qualified beneficiaries, including persons who will turn 60 this year and those who were already 60 and above but who, for one reason or another, have been left out of the list.
“I thank President Marcos for allowing this bill to become a law. Both branches should now work together on how to fund it,” he said.
Senator Joel Villanueva also on Tuesday, Aug. 2, announced that RA 11916, or “The Act Increasing the Social Pension of Indigent Senior Citizens”, has already lapsed into law last July 30.