Valenzuela council tackles bill against abuse of senior citizens

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MANILA, Philippines—Abusing senior citizens could land one in jail for up to six months in Valenzuela City if a bill seeking to punish such behavior is enacted into a city ordinance.

Valenzuela City First District Councilor Corazon Cortez filed the bill in the City Council to protect senior citizens, or people aged 60 and above, from any form of abuse.

The draft ordinance, titled “An Ordinance Providing for a Protection Program for the Elderly Residents of Valenzuela City Against Abuse and Redefining their Rights Thereof,” is now being deliberated by the City Council.

It identifies 12 categories of prohibited acts against senior citizens, such as causing physical harm, depriving them of financial support, subjecting them to public ridicule, and pressuring the elderly into certain decisions.

People found committing these prohibited acts within the boundaries of the city could be sentenced from one to six months in jail, with a possible fine as well.

More serious crimes against senior citizens, such as killing or planning to kill them, are already covered by parricide, homicide and murder in the Revised Penal Code, Cortez said in a statement, but these lesser offenses are not yet punished by law.

Cortez said it was important to safeguard the rights of senior citizens because the elderly are, more often than not, defenseless against abuse.

“Abuses of elderly persons are severely under-reported, as many of them are dependent on their abusers and they fear being abandoned and sent to an institution for the elderly,” she said.

The city government says that the city-operated halfway house, Bahay Kalinga, is home to 10 elderly residents abandoned by their families.

A total of 33,135 senior citizens live in Valenzuela City, according to the local government’s Office of Senior Citizens Affairs.

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