With the new law expanding the grant of cash gifts not only to centenarians but to those who turn 80, 85, 90 and 95 as well, National Unity Party (NUP) president and Camarines Sur Rep. LRay Villafuerte has called on local government executives to assist the National Commission of Senior Citizens (NCSC) and other concerned agencies in completing at the soonest the national database of elderly Filipinos entitled to this windfall along with those eligible for the recently-increased monthly pension from the government.
A former governor who now represents Camarines Sur’s second district in the House of Representatives, Villafuerte noted that an accurate cataloguing of Filipino citizens who are 60 years and above is “crucial for the government following the President Marcos’ enactment of a new law (Republic Act or RA No. 11982) granting a P10,000 cash reward for all Filipinos when they reach the ages of 80, 85, 90 and 95, and the amendatory law (RA 11916) or “An Act increasing the Social Pension of Indigent Senior Citizens” of 2022 that doubled the monthly pension of indigent seniors to P1,000.”
“I am appealing to our LGU (local government unit) officials to go the extra mile in giving a hand to the NCSC and three more agencies in putting up the Elderly Data Management System or list of elderly Filipinos entitled to the cash bonanza, along with the national database of all senior citizens for the purpose of, among others, determining who among them are actually qualified to receive the monthly allowance for indigent seniors that has been increased beginning this year from P500 to P1,000,” Villafuerte, one of the lead authors of both RA 11982 and RA 11916, said.
RA 11982 or the “Act granting Benefits to Filipino Octogenarians and Nonagenarians,” amended RA 10868, or the “Centenarians Act” of 2016, by granting a P10,000 cash gift to senior citizens when they reach 80, and every five years thereafter until they turn 95.
All Filipinos who reach the ages of 80, 85, 90, 95 and 100 are entitled to the cash gifts from the national government, through the NCSC.
RA 10868 provided for a P100,000 gift for seniors when they reach 100 years of age, along with a felicitation letter from the President.
Villafuerte explained that RA 11982 tasks the NCSC—in coordination with LGUs; the Departments of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and of Information and Communications Technology (DICT); and the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA)—to undertake an online registration of the intended beneficiaries for its would-be Elderly Data Management System, which shall contain all relevant information about elderly Filipinos eligible for the cash gifts.
The former Camarines Sur governor called on LGU executives to assist the NCSC and the other concerned agencies in signing up all those 60 years and above in their respective localities, “so the government will finally have a comprehensive and accurate database of all seniors entitled to either the cash rewards when they become octogenarians, nonagenarians or centenarians and/or those qualified to receive the indigents’ pension that has been raised this year to P1,000 per month.”
“It seems safe to say at this point that the NCSC does not yet have the complete list of all seniors who have reached, or are to about to reach, the ages of 80, 85, 90, 95 or 100, considering that only over 4 million senior citizens have thus far registered on its official website,” he said.
This number of NCSC registrants—4.419,153 as of March 1—represents just a third of the 12.2 million Filipinos that the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported to have turned 60 years old as of March 2020, he added.
According to official data, there are about 4.1 million indigent seniors and 90,000 who are octogenarians, nonagenarians or centenarians.
“Seldom do Filipinos reach the age of 100, so what better way for the national government and the Congress to show our country’s appreciation for the significant contributions of our grandparents and other seniors to society during their relatively more productive years than to give them a cash windfall not only when they become centenarians but even when they turn 80, 85, 90 and 95 years old,” Villafuerte said.
RA 11982 states that extra funding for the cash rewards for octogenarians and nonagenarians shall come from the annual General Appropriations Act (GAA).
But because the budget for this measure is not covered by the 2024 GAA, Villafuerte expressed support for the proposal of fellow legislators—like Albay Rep. Rizaldy Co and Senior Citizens Rep. Rodolfo Ordanes who chair, respectively, the House committee on appropriations and committee on senior citizens—that the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) should consider tapping the government’s unprogrammed funds or savings so it could start giving out the P10,000 cash gifts to qualified seniors at the soonest.
The DBM has been able to release the higher monthly pension for indigent elderly Filipinos beginning January this year because the 19th Congress had approved the Malacañan-proposed 100% increase in the senior citizens’ pension fund from P25 billion in last year’s national budget to P49.8 billion in the 2024 GAA.
Earlier, NCSC chairman Franklin Quijano, in a public briefing at Malacañan Palace, sought the help of LGUs and senior citizens’ organizations in updating and completing the Commission’s accurate database covering about 12.3 million Filipinos 60 years of age and above, and including their respective health profiles.
Villafuerte said such an authoritative database will go a long way in helping the NCSC, with the help of LGU officials, identify all senior citizens, locate them and ensure that they can avail of the benefits due the elderly.
The NCSC’s current database was supposed to have been culled from files of the PSA and Commission on Population and Development (Popcom), which do not reportedly have complete information on the country’s senior citizens.
All Filipinos who reach the ages of 80, 85, 90, 95 and 100 are entitled to the cash gifts from the national government, through the NCSC.
For the senior citizens’ pension, however, Villafuerte pointed out that those eligible to receive this monthly allowance include those who are sick or with disability, no permanent source of income, with no regular support from their families or relatives, and without any pension from the government or private institutions.
On top of the increased monthly stipend to P1,000, RA 11916 mandates that social safety assistance be made available to senior citizens to cushion the impact of economic shocks, disasters and calamities, Villafuerte said.
Such aid shall include food, medicines and financial assistance for house repairs, with the funds to be sourced from the disaster/calamity budgets of LGUs where the affected senior citizens reside, subject to the guidelines to be issued by the NCSC, he added.
Villafuerte said, “Legislated measures have been provided by the State to help guarantee the safety and security of our senior citizens, but, unfortunately, most of them face financial problems as they are unable to work for a living or have no monthly pension—or both. And with inflation and the ever-rising living standards, it is getting harder and harder for our senior citizens to live as comfortably as they can in their golden age, especially after the inimical impact of the pandemic.”
“Considering that financial support from pensions such as the Social Security System (SSS) and the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) have proven not enough or insufficient, the increase in their monthly pension to P1,000 will somehow lighten the financial burden of our elders,’ Villafuerte said.
The groceries’ discounts cover basic goods and prime commodities like rice, bread, meat, fish, chicken, eggs, cooking oil, sugar, vegetables, fruits, onions, garlic, fresh and processed milk, sardines and processed meat.
“I agree with Speaker Martin (Romualdez) that seniors and PWDs are getting paltry discounts on their essential food purchases as provided under the social protection laws benefiting their sectors,” Villafuerte said.
“Hence my support for the recent move by three House committees to jointly direct the DTI and DA to raise the cap on the 5% discount now enjoyed by senior citizens on their purchases of certain basic goods from the current P65 to P125 per week,” Villafuerte said.
“This will translate into a maximum monthly price discount of P500 per senior citizen on his or her groceries,” he said.
Villafuerte was the lead author of House Bill (HB) 302, which was one of the bills consolidated into the final version of the measure—(HB 7535)—approved by the House of Representatives.
He had authored HB 302 with Camarines Sur Reps. Miguel Luis Villafuerte and Tsuyoshi Anthony Horibata along with the Bicol Saro partylist.
Villafuerte had authored or co-authored 14 of the 49 laws signed by President Marcos since he assumed office in 2022.
The House has thus far approved 58 of the priority bills that the President and the Legislative Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) had identified for urgent approval, including 9 of the 49 that Mr. Marcos had signed into law.
Villafuerte had authored or co-authored 41 of the House-approved priority bills.
RA 10754, or “An Act Expanding the Benefits and Privileges of PWDs entitled PWDs to the same discounts enjoyed by senior citizens on their groceries’ purchases.
