More than four million indigent senior citizens who are now getting the law-mandated higher monthly pension of P1,000 will continue to do so in 2025 as a nearly P50-billion outlay for this social protection program was tucked in the proposed national budget of the Marcos administration for next year.
Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte said another P3 billion was included in next year’s proposed General Appropriations Act (GAA) so the government can also give out, as provided by another law, the cash gift of P100,000 each to all Filipinos who become centenarians or reach the age of 100; and P10,000 apiece for the elderly who turns 80, 85, 90 or 95 years of age.
This developed as the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) informed Congress the allocation of P49.8 billion for the Social Pension for Indigent Senior Citizens (SPISC) and P3 billion for the cash gifts due octogenarians, nonagenarians and centenarians in the 2025 National Expenditure Program.
“With adequate funding support for the P1,000 monthly pension of elderly Filipinos who are indigent seniors plus the cash gifts for our octogenarians, nonagenarians and centenarians included in the 2025 NEP, I am appealing to our local executives to assist the NCSC (National Commission of Senior Citizens), DSWD (Department of Social Welfare and Development), DICT (Department of Information and Communications Technology) and PSA (Philippine Statistics Authority) in completing soon enough the national database of senior citizens to make sure that all of the aged who are entitled to the windfall along with those qualified for the SPISC are able to avail of these social protection measures,” Villafuerte said.
Villafuerte added: “An accurate cataloguing of Filipino citizens who are 60 years and above is crucial for the full implementation of existing laws, in step with President Marcos’ Bagong Pilipinas vision of leaving no Filipino behind in his government’s quest for sustained high and inclusive growth.”
