MANILA, Philippines—Who says septuagenarians are old?
Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago has filed a bill seeking to extend to 70 the compulsory retirement age for government workers. She said the current ceiling of 65 was discriminatory to “seasoned public servants who are still capable of doing their jobs.”
Senate Bill No. 2797 amends the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) Act, which prescribes the mandatory retirement age. She said the age limit was set more than 122 years ago when life expectancy was still generally set at 37.
“The age for compulsory retirement as provided by law was initially thought to be the age when an employee is deemed already unfit to keep his or her employment,” she said. “But we now have to consider recent advances in medicine and health care, which extend the productive age of employees to even beyond 70 years old, especially in fields that are not physically demanding.”
Santiago, 66, said extending the age limit by five more years would benefit workers in government.
“Many people want to keep working for a variety of reasons other than economic survival, including enjoyment of the office camaraderie or the sense of purpose that work brings,” the senator said.
In turn, the government and the public would “benefit from the expertise of our public servants for a bit longer and allow them more time for our insurance system to prepare for their retirement.”
“Our loyal and hard-working public servants will be able to benefit from continued employment and retire at the age when they are more ready to move on,” Santiago said.