Sara Duterte to DSWD: Give all senior citizens pensions

Senior citizens in San Marcelino town in Zambales wait for the distribution of their P3,000 social pension from the government on Thursday, Nov. 18. (Photo courtesy of San Marcelino Public Information Office)

MANILA, Philippines — Vice presidential candidate and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio on Sunday said the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) should give pensions to all senior citizens in the country.

“Kailangan po natin kausapin ang DSWD at ipa-intindi sa kanila na kailangan natin ulitin ang sistema ng pagbibigay ng pension, para lahat ng ating mga senior citizens ay nabibigyan ng tulong galing sa DSWD,” Duterte-Carpio in a statement during her campaign sortie in Zambales.

(We need to talk to the DSWD and make them understand that we need to go back to the old pension system, so that all our senior citizens are given assistance from the DSWD.)

According to her, giving seniors pensions was also a problem in Davao City, just like in other local government units, as pensions provided by DSWD sometimes did not arrive.

“Pangalawa, hindi nabibigyan lahat dahil pinipili nila yung bibigyan. Hindi nila sinasali yung mga merong SSS at GSIS,” she added.

(Second, not everyone is given a pension because they choose who to give it to. They do not include those with SSS and GSIS.)

She explained that Davao City, for its part, even passed an ordinance to provide its senior residents fair pension benefits as it cannot overrule a national law.

“Ang ginawa po namin temporarily doon sa Davao City, para lang po mabigyan lahat at pantay-pantay po ang estado ng senior citizens, gumawa po kami ng local pension,” she said.

(What we did temporarily in Davao City was to create a local pension system.)

“Gumawa kami ng ordinansa na lahat ng senior citizen, 65 and above ang inuna namin pero sa susunod na mga taon ibaba na namin sa 60 — lahat po sila binibigyan namin ng pension,” she added.

(We made an ordinance that gives priority to all senior citizens and gives them pension, 65 years old and above but in the next few years it will those below 60 years old.)

Meanwhile, the presidential daughter said that she had already discussed the matter with DSWD.

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