Social pension eyed for ‘younger’ poor seniors

MANILA, Philippines–The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is eyeing the inclusion of “younger” indigent senior citizens in the coverage of their social pension program.

In the proposed budget for the social pension program for next year, the DSWD aims to lower the coverage age of indigent pensioners from the current 77 years old to 67 years old.

The agency gives out P500 monthly pensions to senior citizens aged 77 and above.

“For this year, we can only cover senior citizens aged 77 years old and above. For 2015, we are hoping to get an increase so we can include senior citizens aged 67 years old,” Soliman said.

The proposed budget for the social pension program for 2015 is P4,762,628,000.

This year’s approved allocation for the social pension program is P2.9 billion, which can cover 455,530 senior citizens.–Julie M. Aurelio