Palace sets P500 monthly pension for poor elderly

Malacañang has released P435.6 million for the payment of a monthly stipend to some 140,000 indigent senior citizens, one of the benefits stipulated by the Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010.

The amount is half of the P871 million earmarked for the social pension fund this year to be administered by the Department of Social Welfare and Development, said Budget Secretary Florencio B. Abad.

The other half will be released in July to cover the social pension fund for the second semester, said Abad.

He said 138,960 indigent senior citizens throughout the country will receive P500 a month through the pension fund this year.

Under the Expanded Senior Citizens Act, indigent senior citizens are eligible to receive a social pension to help them with their basic needs, such as food and medicine.

The target beneficiaries of the program are indigent senior citizens who are frail, sick, disabled, not receiving any pension, without any permanent source of income nor regular support from families or relatives.

“This program is in line with the government’s obligation to protect the most vulnerable sectors of society,” said Abad.

Bicol ranked first as the region with the most number of senior citizen recipients at 13,348. Western Visayas followed with 12,981 and Eastern Visayas with 11,532.

Abad said the DSWD has proposed that the social pension program be expanded to reach more than a million indigent senior citizens throughout the country by 2012.

Aside from the social pension fund, another P11.186 million was also released to the DSWD for a program to help people with disabilities, including senior citizens, according to Abad.

The law defines a senior citizen simply as any resident citizen of the Philippines aged 60 years old and above. As of the 2000 census, there were 4.6 million senior citizens in the country.

The Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010 gave senior citizens benefits and privileges not included in the earlier law on the elderly, Republic Act No. 7432.

Negated by Evat

RA 7432 granted the senior citizens a 20-percent discount on purchases of essential goods and services. The law was amended in 2003, which granted additional benefits and privileges.

Unfortunately, the expanded value-added tax (Evat) law negated much of the 20-percent discount given to senior citizens who effectively enjoyed a net discount of 8 percent, after the 12-percent VAT.

To address this problem, the Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010, or RA 9994, was passed, exempting senior citizens from payment of the VAT, enabling them to enjoy the full 20-percent discount on their purchases.

Earlier this week, Abad said P3.43 billion was released to the Department of Agriculture for the national rice program, aimed at helping farmers increase their yield.

Ultimately, the program is aimed at achieving self-sufficiency in rice production by 2013.

With a budget of P5.217 billion this year, the program provides farmers with quality seeds, irrigation, credit and marketing assistance to improve farm productivity and profitability.