Bill granting elderly P100,000 cash gift ‘much earlier’ reaches Senate floor

FILE PHOTO: An elderly man is wheeled into a vaccination area inside V-Mall in San Juan City on Friday, May 20, 2022, to get his second booster shot. Philippine Daily Inquirer/Grig C. Montegrande

MANILA, Philippines — A measure that would allow senior citizens to enjoy a P100,000 cash gift “much earlier” has finally reached the  Senate floor.

On Wednesday, Senators Imee Marcos and Ramon Revilla Jr. sought the support of their colleagues when they  presented to the plenary Committee Report No.  61 on Senate Bill  No. 2028, expanding the coverage of the Centenarians Act of 2016.

Under the present law, only those who reach the age of 100 enjoy the benefit of the P100,000 cash gift.

Many elderly Filipinos, however, could not  enjoy the benefits and privileges of the law as they no longer reach the  age of 100, the two senators pointed out when they sponsored the bill.

READ: Why require school records? Senators hit delay of P100,000 cash gift for centenarians

“Thus, to assist our senior citizens as they approach their late years, this bills seeks to distribute the P100,000 cash gift much earlier and in three  tranches when they reach the ages of 80, 90 and of a hundred,” according to Marcos.

Marcos led the discussions on the measure in the upper chamber as head of the committee on social justice, welfare and rural development.

Revilla, meanwhile, pointed out that he first pushed and fought for the measure in 2020.

“However, the fight was momentarily halted  because of the  pandemic,”  he said when he delivered his own  sponsorship speech as principal author of the bill.

“Naantala man ng bahagya, alam nating darating ang tamang panahon para rito. And today is that day…Hindi napagod  hindi natinag because our dear senior citizens deserve no less,”  the senator added.

According to Marcos, funding for the proposed amendments in the law will be sourced from the annual national budget, “subject to a yearly review and adjustment by the National Economic and Development Authority according to the average inflation rate of three prior years.”

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