Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

a 5122
House Bill No.

Introduced by Hon. Sol Aragones

EXPLANATORY NOTE

The bill seeks to grant universal social pension for senior citizens who are not receiving
a pension and those who are receiving a pension in the amount of PHP. 3,500 and below. To
provide inclusive and sustainable coverage, this bill proposes a minimum grant of One
‘Thousand Pesos (PHP 1,000) per month to all senior citizens, subject to review every two years,
taking into consideration such factors as inflation and availability of funds.

Older persons are increasing in absolute numbers and more or less in proportion to
overall population increases. Based on 2010 estimates, older persons aged 60 years and over
account for 6.23 million or 6.7% of the total population. Life expectancy at birth has risen from.
55 years in the early 1950s, to around 69 years today, while an individual reaching the age of
60 today can expect to live for another 17 years. This increase in life expectancy, coupled with
reductions in fertility rates, translates to an ageing population. According to population
projections undertaken by the Philippine Statistics Authority, the number of Filipinos over the
age of 60 is set to nearly triple in the next 30 years, from 7.6 million in 2015 to 22.6 million in
2045. Over the same period, the proportion of the total population over the age of 60 will double
from 7.5% to 15.9%.

While this trend is something to be celebrated, growing older can only be truly
considered a success if our elders can live their later years with dignity and security. Despite
constitutionally mandated social security for senior citizens, not all older people receive
financial support from their children. When they do, itis often inadequate to cover basic needs
such as health expenditures. This is mainly due to widespread poverty and vulnerability of
Filipino families, with working adults forced to make a trade-off between supporting the elder
people and investing in young children. Depending completely on their children for financial
support also threatens the dignity of older persons—many of whom fear becoming dependent
and feel too proud or ashamed to ask for support.


cso have led to economic insecurity of older Filipinos. These include the

challenges of securing a job as an individual advances in age because of ill health and disability,
family responsibilities, and age discrimination in the workplace.

Moreover, most Filipinos cannot currently expect to receive a pension in their old age.
In 2016, only a little over a quarter of senior citizens (29%) received pensions based on
previous working history (SSS, GSIS, and other pensions). There are two major barriers to
age of these pensions. First, the majority of Filipino workers are working in
ployment sector (estimated between 70% and 75%). Second, many workers
simply do not have disposable income to save for pension. Furthermore, receipt of pension
does not itee income security as about a third of SSS retirees (34%) receive less than
PHP 2,000 per month, and half (52%) receive less than PHP 3,000 per month.

The Social Pension Program which was first completed in 2011 by virtue of Republic
‘Act No. 9994 or the Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010 has made a significant dent in
reducing the coverage gap. From 134,000 beneficiaries in 2011, the program expanded to 2.8
million or 33% indigent senior citizens in 2017. However, with the coverage of these schemes
combined, there would still be around 3 million or 38% of senior citizens with no pension at
all. |
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Ina review conducted by the Coalition of Services of the Elderly (COSE) and HelpAge
International, the social pension for indigent seniors has significantly increased the income and
expenditure but it remains limited. Two main issues limit the impact of social pension.

First, the means-tested nature of schemes excludes—by design—a large proportion of
vulnerable older people whose incomes are too eager to contribute to social security earlier in
their lives, but who fail to meet the strict eligibility criteria for the current social pension.
‘Targeting errors also mean many of the poorest older people are left out. A key finding of the
research is that there are major issues to be addressed in the process of targeting and validation
of older people, A common observation of both implementers and older people was that many
older people recipients appear to not be the poorest, while many of the poorest miss out. One
major issue identified is that the Listahanan database—which is based on household data—
does not mea measure issues related to the vulnerability of individual older people. The
increasing role of LGUs in the targeting process is unlikely to resolve the issues of accuracy
and may create additional challenges. One is that the highly subjective nature of decision
making can leave space for clientelism and corruption in the targeting process. Another issue
is that LGUs struggle to mobilize the necessary human resources to undertake the time-
intensive process, which can lead to older people being enrolled without adequate validation.

Second, the benefit level of PHP 500 is low relative to both Filipino and international
benchmarks, providing a limited level of income security. The benefit of PHP 500 amounts to
less than half (41%) of the 2014 poverty line (PHP 1,225 per month) and just 28% of the
national poverty line (PHP 1,756). The inadequacy of the benefit is exacerbated by the fact that
it is not indexed to inflation. With rises in prices over the last 5 years, the real value of social



pension benefit has depreciated from the PHP 500 when RA 9994 was passed to approximately
PHP 415-a 17% reduction in the real value of the benefit.

Older persons have contributed immensely to the nation in all manner of ways
throughout their lives by: paying taxes, by contributing to the growth of the economy, and by
raising the future generation of Filipinos. Thus, this bill seeks to amend the social pension
provision of RA 9994 and expand the coverage of social pension to all senior citizens while
indexing the current benefit amount to inflation.

In view of the foregoing, the approval of this bill is earnestly sought.

PM ates lect
HON. SOLARAGONES

Representative, Third District of Laguna


auawne

Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

5122
House Bill No.

————__——————___——————— ee

Introduced by Hon. Sol Aragones

AN ACT
INCREASING THE MONTHLY SOCIAL PENSION OF SENIOR CITIZENS AND
EXPANDING THE COVERAGE THEREOF, AMENDING FOR THE PURPOSE
SECTIONS 2 AND 5 OF REPUBLIC ACT NO. 7432, AS AMENDED BY REPUBLIC
ACT NO, 9257, FURTHER AMENDED BY REPUBLIC ACT NO. 9994, OTHERWISE
KNOWN AS THE “EXPANDED SENIOR CITIZENS ACT OF 2010”

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress
assembled:

SECTION 1. Section 2 of Republic Act No. 7432, as amended by Republic Act No.
9257, further amended by Republic Act No. 9994, otherwise known as the “Expanded Senior
Citizens Act of 2010”, is hereby further amended to read as follows:

“Sec. 2. Definition of Terms. — For purposes of this Act, these terms are defined

as follows:

Coordinating and Monitoring Beard.”] SOCIAL PENSION REFERS TO THE MONTHLY
STIPEND OR MONETARY GRANT FROM THE GOVERNMENT TO MEET THE


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DAILY SUBSISTENCE AND OTHER MEDICAL NEEDS OF SENIOR CITIZENS
WHICH SHALL NOT BE LESS THAN ONE THOUSAND PESOS (P1,000.00) PER
MONTH.
SECTION 2. Section 5 of the same Act, as amended, is hereby further amended to

read as follows:

“Sec. 5. Government Assistance. ~ The government shall provide the
following:

Xxx xxx xxx

“(h) Additional Government Assistance

(1) Social Pension

[Indigent] ALL senior citizens WHO ARE NOT RECEIVING A
PENSION OR THOSE WHO ARE RECEIVING A PENSION IN THE AMOUNT
OF THREE THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED PESOS (Php3,500.00) AND BELOW

FROM THE GOVERNMENT SERVICE INSURANCE SYSTEM (G:

, SOCIAL
SECURITY SYSTEM (SSS), AND PENSION AND GRATUITY MANAGEMENT
CENTER (PGMC), shall be entitled to a monthly stipend OF AT LEAST [amounting to
Five hundred-pesos-(Php500.00)] ONE THOUSAND PESOS (P1,000.00) to augment the
daily subsistence and other medical needs of senior citizens, WHICH AMOUNT SHALL
BE [subject to-a-review] REVIEWED every two (2) years by Congress, in consultation
with the DSWD OR ANY AGENCY THAT SHALL BE SO DESIGNATED BY AN
ACT OF CONGRESS, TAKING INTO ACCOUNT THE NATIONAL INFLATION
RATE AND OTHER RELEVANT ECONOMIC INDICATORS.

A SENIOR CITIZEN MAY OPT NOT TO RECEIVE THE
MONTHLY SOCIAL PENSION AND DONATE ONE’S PENSION PAYMENTS TO

THE OSCA OR TO ANY GOVERNMENT-ACCREDITED NON GOVERNMENT


ORGANIZATION (NGO) FOR SENIOR CITIZENS OPERATING IN THE SAME
CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT WHERE THE DONOR RESIDES: PROVIDED,
THAT THE DONATION SHALL BE UTILIZED TO MEET THE MEDICAL
NEEDS OF OTHER SENIOR CITIZENS IN THE CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT
WHERE THE OSCA AND THE GOVERNMENT-ACCREDITED NGO FOR
SENIOR CITIZENS ARE SITUATED.
xxx Xxx Xxx

SECTION 3. If any provision of this Act is declared invalid or unconstitutional, the
other provisions not affected thereby shall continue to be in full force and effect.

SECTION 4. All laws, decrees, executive orders or rules and regulations contrary to
or inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are hereby repealed or modified accordingly.

SECTION 5. This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its publication in the
Official Gazette or in any newspaper of general circulation.

Approved,