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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Here's how much gov't could spend on proposed universal social pension for seniors

Here's how much gov't could spend on proposed universal social pension for seniors

Published Nov 9, 2022 11:02 am

The national government would have to cough up between P92 billion and P230 billion annually if and when Congress institutionalizes a proposal to provide all senior citizens in the Philippines a universal social pension.

(Danie Franco/ Unsplash)

There are seven such measures pending before House Committee on Senior Citizens chaired by Senior Citizens Party-list Rep. Rodolfo Ordanes.

In a public hearing Tuesday, Nov. 8, the House panel sought comments from agencies such as Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) regarding the potential implementation of a universal social pension law for Filipino senior citizens.

A key point of variance among the seven House bills is the amount of monthly pension that would be granted to the beneficiaries. Some of the proposals are batting for a P1,000 monthly pension, while others are suggesting the amount of P2,500.

"If all senior citizens, given the 2015 census of population, would be provided with the proposed P1,000 senior citizen pension, the estimated budgetary requirement Mr. Chair is P92 billion-plus," Nihal Abdulrauf, who represented DBM in the hearing, told the committee.

"That is a conservative estimate and that is yet to be...we are yet to finalize that based on the study being conducted by our technical bureau," she noted.

"It also excludes the administrative costs of managing or administering the pension and the administrative cost is usually 1.8 percent of the pension cost," Abdulrauf said.

For the proposed P2,500 pension, the conservative estimated budgetary requirement for the coverage of all senior citizens is at least P230 billion, the DBM official said.

Currently, the law only mandates social pension for indigent senior citizens at P1,000 per month.

According to Miramel Garcia Laxa of the DSWD, another resource person in the hearing, the existing social pension program only covers 4,085,066 senior citizens. Meanwhile, another 540,577 are on the wait list.

Laxa gave her own recommendations to the panel regarding the implementation of a universal social pension for seniors down the road.

"If there will be a law that will be passed...that will cover all senior citizens...that this will now be implemented by our local government units (LGUs)," she said.

She also suggested that the implementing agency be switched from the DSWD to the National Commission of Senior Citizens (NCSC).

Related Tags

indigent universal social pension 000 Seniors P1 P2 senior citizens 110922 DSWD 500 rodolfo ordanes DBM
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