DSWD: 100 percent pension hike for indigent seniors by February

By: Zeus Legaspi - 10 months ago

(File photo / DSWD-7/INQUIRER.net)

MANILA, Philippines — Starting next month, indigent senior citizens who are beneficiaries of the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) Social Pension program will receive a P1,000 monthly stipend, DSWD Assistant Secretary Romel Lopez announced on Monday.The amount is twice the P500 that indigent senior citizens have been receiving prior to the increase.

“We expect that the distribution of the social pension for the first semester with its increased amount will commence this February 2024,” Lopez said in a statement.

According to the DSWD official, increasing the social pension will help indigent senior citizens cushion the impact of inflation.

“The social pension is provided to eligible and qualified indigent senior citizens to augment their daily subsistence and address their medical needs,” Lopez said.

He added that senior citizens are considered eligible for the program if they are not already receiving pensions from the Social Security System, Government Service Insurance System, Philippine Veterans Affairs Office, Armed Forces and Police Mutual Benefit Association, Inc., or any other private insurance company.

Lopez explained that the monthly social pension for seniors is provided to eligible beneficiaries on a semestral basis, totaling P6,000 per payout.

Based on DSWD data, some 4,085,066 indigent senior citizens will benefit from the increased stipend.

The pension increase was a long time coming as Republic Act 11916 or an Act Increasing the Social Pension of Indigent Senior Citizens has lapsed into law in July 2022.