Senior citizens’ personal appearance to claim pension no longer required

MANILA, Philippines — Senior citizens will no longer be required to personally appear before pension-issuing agencies, their servicing banks and other financial institutions to access their pension by March 1, 2021, Malacañang said Friday.

This is after Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) approved a resolution ordering concerned agencies and financial institutions to adopt alternative modes of validation for senior citizen pensioners, presidential spokesman Harry Roque said.

“Sa ngayon, kinakailangan magpakita ng personal o magsumite ng mga dokumento nang personal ang mga senior citizen para patuloy nilang ma-access ang kanilang pension,” Roque said in a morning show over PTV-4.

(At present, senior citizens are required to appear personally or submit documents personally so that they could access their pension.)

“Para matiyak ang kanilang kalusugan at kaligtasan, inaprubahan ng resolusyon na ito na hindi na sila kinakailangan na magkaroon ng personal appearance sa mga bangko at iba pang institusyon para makuha lamang ang kanilang mga pensyon,” he added.

(To ensure their health and safety, this resolution waives the personal appearance requirement for senior citizens.)

Concerned government agencies are ordered to issue memorandum circulars to implement these alternative modes of validation by March 1, Roque said.

Malacañang has yet to release a copy of the approved IATF resolution to the media.

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