No pension fund yet for 600,000 waitlisted poor senior citizens

A senior citizen smiling. – Even in 2025, there is still no guarantee that the 600,000 waitlisted indigent senior citizens will receive the P1,000 monthly social pension from the government, according to Senator Imee Marcos. | PHOTO: DSWD PH Assistance website / dswdassistance.ph

MANILA, Philippines — Even in 2025, there is still no guarantee that the 600,000 waitlisted indigent senior citizens will receive the P1,000 monthly social pension from the government.

The number of waitlisted elderly may even reach 800,000, according to Sen. Imee Marcos, who sponsored the Senate finance committee’s recommended P233.8 billion budget for the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) next year.

All these were disclosed Tuesday night during the Senate plenary deliberations on the DSWD’s budget.

During her interpellation, Sen. Loren Legarda raised the complaints she received from senior citizens who are still waiting for the cash assistance mandated by the Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2022.

READ: Bill seeking higher social pension for indigent elderly now a law

Marcos confirmed the backlogs.

“Yes, totoo po yan at aminin natin malaki ang utang  natin sa ating mga señoritos at señoritas,”  she said.

(Yes, that’s true, and let’s admit it, we owe a lot to our señoritos and señoritas.)

In 2023 alone, she said 490,000  senior citizens did not receive the cash aid due to budget constraints.

“Pinagpilitan natin nung 2024 pero lomobo pa rin ‘yung seniors, kaya’t ito nga 622,000, baka  umabot pa ng 800,000 ang waitlisted seniors,” Marcos said.

(We insisted in 2024, but the number of seniors still grew, so now it’s at 622,000; it might even reach 800,000 waitlisted seniors.)

READ: Poor senior citizens can now receive monthly, bi-monthly, quarterly pension

When asked if  these 600,000  elderly would be covered in the 2025 budget of the DSWD,  the sponsor of the budget said: “Wala pa, kukulangin pa rin (Not yet, it will still be insufficient).”

“Wala pa rin pondo dun sa waitlisted ha. Itong P49.8 billion na nasa NEP (National Expenditure Program) na dinagdagan natin ng konti, P49.81 billion… eh kukulangin pa rin sa totoo lang,” Marcos  added.

(There is still no funding for those on the waitlist. This P49.8 billion that’s in the NEP, which we increased a little to P49.81 billion… it will still be insufficient, to be honest.)

She further explained that these 600,000 elderly were not on the list at all and had never received cash assistance.

Still, Legarda wondered why the benefits had stopped even for those who had previously received them.

“Palagay ko hindi dapat mangyayari yun ano. Yung mga bagong seniors, dun talaga wala tayong pambayad. Pero kung dati nang nasa listahan, baka nade-delay lang  or nagkakatagalan lang pero dapat mabayaran sila,” Marcos answered.

(I think that shouldn’t happen. For the new seniors, we really don’t have the funds to pay them. But for those who were already on the list, maybe it’s just delayed or taking longer, but they should be paid.)

NOTE: The English translations in the article were AI-generated.