SENATOR Imee R. Marcos said on Wednesday said the government should update existing social pension systems for poor senior citizens citing delays in payouts.
At a senate hearing on a bill seeking to provide universal social pension for senior citizens, Ms. Marcos said the measure, if passed, would require P165 billion to be implemented.
Under Senate Bill No. 141 written by Senator Ana Theresia N. Hontiveros-Baraquel, all senior citizens aged 60 and above would be given a pension of P1,500 per month.
“By providing income security in the form of universal pension for senior citizens, we not only assist them with their basic needs such as food and health… it also becomes a tool to share the proceeds of growth across all of society,” Ms. Hontiveros-Baraquel said in the bill’s explanatory note.
“Even if this is noble, the first problem is that this would need a lot of funding,” Ms. Marcos said in Filipino. “We all know that we do not have that kind of money yet.”
Ms. Marcos noted that there are about 490,000 senior citizens waiting for their pensions. — John Victor D. Ordoñez