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Republic of the Philippines 
House of Representatives 
Quezon City, Metro Manila 
TWENTIETH CONGRESS 
First Regular Session 
HOUSE BILL NO. 1032 
INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVE MILAGROS AQUINO - MAGSAYSAY 
EXPLANATORY NOTE 
This bill seeks to create agricultural pension fund and establish a social security benefits 
system for farmers and fisherfolk, and provide funds to protect the welfare and interest of ageing 
and elderly agricultural workers.  
The Philippines is primarily an agricultural country despite the plan to make it an 
industrialized country. The Philippine Gross Domestic Product (GDP) posted growth of 7.6 per 
cent in the third quarter of 2022, exceeding the median analyst forecast of 6.3 per cent. Major 
economic sectors posted positive growth in the third quarter, including agriculture, forestry and 
fishing at 2.2 per cent, industry at 7.7 per cent, and services at 9.1 per cent.  The value of production 
in agriculture and fisheries at constant 2018 prices in the first quarter of 2023 was registered at 
Php 428.69 billion, which indicates an annual growth of 2.1 percent. Expansions in the value of 
livestock and poultry production were noted, with annual increases in the value of production of 
crops, livestock, poultry, and fisheries in the recent quarters. (Philippine Statistics Authority, Value 
of Production in Philippine Agriculture and Fisheries, 1st Quarter 2023 Report) 
Agriculture continues to be a main driver of the Philippine economy, and as such, Filipino 
farmers and fisherfolk are admittedly crucial in the country’s development and 
sustainability. However, they remain to be the poorest sectors in the Philippines. 
Agricultural workers laboring their whole lives also suffer from the uncertainty of 
economic security and financial stability in their later years as they age.  
The Social Protection framework to which the Philippines subscribes requires the 
development of policies and programs which shall reduce poverty and vulnerability to risks, and 
enhance the social status and rights of marginalized sectors like the senior citizens, including 
protecting against the sudden loss of income and improving capacity to manage risks. The senior 
citizens sector ranked seventh among the basic sectors which has the highest poverty incidence 
and magnitude of poor. And for ageing Filipino workers in the agriculture sector, the risk and 
July 1, 2025
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vulnerability is compounded without assured social security benefits after working as farmers and 
fisherfolk for most of their lives. 
In view of the foregoing, the passage of this bill is earnestly recommended. 
HON. MILAGROS AQUINO-MAGSAYSAY 


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Republic of the Philippines 
House of Representatives 
Quezon City, Metro Manila 
TWENTIETH CONGRESS 
First Regular Session 
HOUSE BILL NO. 1032 
______________________________________________________________________ 
INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVE MILAGROS AQUINO – MAGSAYSAY 
AN ACT CREATING AN AGRICULTURAL PENSION FUND, ENSURING SOCIAL 
SECURITY BENEFITS FOR FARMERS AND FISHERFOLK,  
AND PROVIDING FUNDS THEREFORE  
Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress 
Assembled 
SECTION 1. Short Title – This Act shall be known as the “Agricultural Pension Fund Act of 
2025”.  
SECTION 2. Declaration of Policy – It shall be the declared policy of the State to protect and 
promote the welfare and interest of Filipino senior citizens, and ensure a decent and dignified 
standard of living and quality of life by providing accessible programs and affordable services. 
The 1987 Constitution, Article II, Section IX, mandates: “The State shall promote a just and 
dynamic social order that will ensure the prosperity and independence of the nation and free the 
people from poverty through policies that provide adequate social services, promote full 
employment, a rising standard of living, and an improved quality of life for all.” In addition, Article 
II, Section X declares: “The State shall promote social justice in all phases of national 
development.” Moreover, Article Section IV provides: “The family has the duty to care for its 
elderly members, but the State may also do so through just programs of social security.”  
SECTION 3. Definition of Terms – As used in this Act, the following terms shall mean:  
a. “Agricultural Workers” -  refer to farmers and fisherfolk engaged in the cultivation of the soil,
planting of crops, growing of fruit trees, raising of livestock, poultry, or fish, including the
harvesting and marketing of such farm products, and other farm activities and practices.


 
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b. "Artisanal fisherfolk" - Refers to municipal, small scale or subsistence fishermen who use 
fishing gear which do not require boats or which only require boats below three (3) tons; 
 
c. "Basic sectors" - Refer to the disadvantaged sectors of Philippine society, namely: farmer-
peasant, artisanal fisherfolk, workers in the formal sector and migrant workers, workers in the 
informal sector, indigenous peoples and cultural communities, women, differently-abled persons, 
senior citizens, victims of calamities and disasters, youth and students, children, and urban poor;  
 
d. "Cooperative" - Refers to a duly registered association of at least fifteen (15) persons, majority 
of which are poor, having a common bond of interest, who voluntarily join together to achieve a 
lawful common social and economic end. It is organized by the members who equitably contribute 
the required share capital and accept a fair share of the risks and benefits of their undertaking in 
accordance with the universally accepted corporate principles and practices; 
 
e. "Collateral-free arrangement" - A financial arrangement wherein a loan is contracted by the 
debtor without the conventional loan security of a real estate or chattel mortgage in favor of the 
creditor. In lieu of these conventional securities, alternative arrangements to secure the loans and 
ensure repayment are offered and accepted; 
 
f. Enhanced Social Protection refers to the following benefits: 
 
i. 
Pension Benefit – This can be availed of by poor agricultural workers who 
have given one hundred and twenty (120) monthly contributions; and 
ii. 
Other benefits – These refer to health, disability, maternity, calamity, 
death, and other benefits as maybe determined by the SSS.  
 
g. "Group character loan" - A loan contracted by a member and guaranteed by a group of persons 
for its repayment. The creditor can collect from any of the members of the group which guaranteed 
the said loan, without prejudice to the right of reimbursement of the member or members of the 
group who had advanced the payment in favor of the actual debtor; 
 
h. "Micro-enterprise" - Any economic enterprise with a capital of One hundred fifty thousand 
pesos (P150,000) and below. This amount is subject to periodic determination of the Department 
of Trade and Industry to reflect economic changes; 
 
i."Microfinance" - A credit and savings mobilization program exclusively for the poor to improve 
the asset base of households and expand the access to savings of the poor. It involves the use of 
viable alternative credit schemes and savings programs including the extension of small loans, 
simplified loan application procedures, group character loans, collateral-free arrangements, 
alternative loan repayments, minimum requirements for savings, and small denominated savers' 
instruments; 
 
j. “Poor" - Refers to individuals and families whose income fall below the poverty threshold as 
defined by the National Economic and Development Authority and/or cannot afford in a sustained 


 
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manner to provide their minimum basic needs of food, health, education, housing and other 
essential amenities of life;  
 
k. "Poverty alleviation" - Refers to the reduction of absolute poverty and relative poverty; 
 
l. "Absolute poverty" - Refers to the condition of the household below the food threshold level;    
 
m. "Relative poverty" - Refers to the gap between the rich and the poor; 
 
n. “Retirement” - refers to termination of one’s working life, specifically at age 60 
years old of agricultural workers. 
  
o. "Social reform" - Refers to the continuing process of addressing the basic inequities in Filipino 
society through a systematic, unified and coordinated delivery of socioeconomic programs or 
packages; 
 
p. "Small Savers Instrument (SSI)" - Refers to an evidence of indebtedness of the Government of 
the Republic of the Philippines which shall be in small denominations and sold at a discount from 
its redemption value, payable to bearer and redeemable on demand according to a schedule printed 
on the instrument, with a discount lower than the full stated rate if not held to maturity. The 
resources generated under this scheme shall be used primarily for micro-credit for the poor. SSIs 
are not eligible as legal reserve of banks and legal reserves prescribed of insurance companies 
operating in the Philippines; 
 
SECTION 4. Creation of the Agricultural Pension Fund and Agricultural Workers Social 
Security Program – The Agricultural Pension Fund is hereby established to provide social 
security or pension benefits to agricultural workers, particularly farmers and fisherfolk. This fund 
will serve as the contribution from both national and local government units (LGUs) which shall 
be given only upon payment of the monthly contribution of the poor farmer or fisherfolk, subject 
to the schedule of payments prepared and prescribed by the Social Security System (SSS). 
 
SECTION 5. Full Government Support for Extremely Poor Agricultural Workers. Farmers 
and fisherfolk who are identified to be extremely poor will avail of the full subsidy from the 
national and local governments until such time that upon regular assessment by their LGU under 
the supervision of the PSA, they have been found to be non-extremely poor. Non-extremely poor 
agricultural workers will give personal contribution with counterpart subsidy from the national 
and local governments set forth in Section 4 of this Act. 
 
SECTION 6. Additional Government Support for Agricultural Workers in Advanced Age.-
Poor farmers and fisherfolk who are over 55 years old at the time of the effectivity of this Act, 
who would like to be part of the Agricultural Pension Fund shall contribute only up to the time 
they reach 60 years old and the rest of the contribution shall be subsidized by the government to 
complete the minimum contribution of 120 months. 
 


 
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SECTION 7. Eligibility and Selection of Beneficiaries. - The poor agricultural workers will be 
identified by their respective LGUs based on the data collection at the LGU level. The data 
collection of LGUs will be supervised by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) in accordance 
with Republic Act No. 11315, otherwise known as the Community-Based Monitoring System 
(CBMS) Act. 
 
Every three (3) years after the selection of eligible beneficiaries, the LGUs will conduct a 
revalidation of the list of beneficiaries to ensure that all poor and extremely poor agricultural 
workers are covered by this program.  
 
Until such time that the CBMS of every LGU has been fully implemented, the identification of 
target poor agricultural workers will be undertaken with the use of the Registry of Basic Sector in 
Agriculture (RBSA) and Fisherfolk Registry (FishR) of theDepartment of Agriculture, and the 
Listahanan of the Department of Social Welfare and Development. To minimize exclusion error, 
the LGUs of agricultural workers will ensure that the RBSA and FishR are able to include poor 
and extremely poor farmers and fisherfolk. 
 
Beneficiaries of any similar government program such as the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino 
Program (4Ps) and the Expanded Senior Citizens Pension Program are disqualified from this 
enhanced social protection program. However, farmers and fisherfolk who are no longer 4Ps 
beneficiaries but remain poor shall be covered. 
 
SECTION 8. Rate and Schedule of Premium Payments – The rate of premium or contribution 
shall be determined by the Supervisory Board under the Social Security Commission of the SSS. 
The Board must ensure that the premium or contribution to be paid by the subsistence farmers, 
agrarian reform beneficiaries, agricultural workers and fisherfolk must be reasonably affordable 
to them. In addition, a flexible contribution payment schedule aligned with seasonal earnings and 
harvest season is adopted and implemented. 
 
SECTION 9. Benefits and Entitlements – The Agricultural Pension Fund shall provide the 
following benefits and entitlements, such as, but shall not be limited to: 
 
a. Retirement Benefits – Upon maturity of the scheme, an individual shall be entitled to 
receive a minimum guaranteed monthly pension of Two Thousand pesos (P2,000.00) upon 
reaching 65 years old; 
b. Death Benefits – In the case of an eligible pensioner’s death, his/her designated beneficiary 
shall receive a lump sum amount of not less than Eighteen Thousand Pesos (P18,000.00) 
for every year of contribution; 
c. Disability Benefits – A individual enrolled or registered under the Agricultural Pension 
Fund, who is not delinquent or otherwise disqualified, becomes disabled before reaching 
the age of 65 years old, may avail of the following options: 
 


 
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i. The spouse or legal guardian may continue with the scheme in their behalf or pay the 
remaining balance in lump sum to qualify for retirement benefits; or, 
ii. The can exit the Scheme and receive their contribution share deposited so far, along 
with any interest earned. The interest amount shall be higher than the savings bank 
interest rate or interest earned by the Pension Fund. 
d.      In case the individual decides to leave the program, he/she will still enjoy the   
     following benefits: 
i. If the pensioner exits the Scheme before 10 years from the date of the commencement 
but before they turn 65 years old, they will only get their contribution share with savings 
bank rate payable thereon; 
ii. If pensioner exits the Scheme after 10 years from the date of commencement but before 
reaching 65 years old, they will get their contribution share and accumulated interest at 
a rate higher than the savings bank interest rate or the interest earned by the Pension 
Fund; 
iii. If the individual dies before the completion of the Scheme but having made regular 
contributions, and the spouse who continued the account wants to exit the Scheme, the 
spouse may receive the total contribution share made in the name of the pensioner along 
with accumulated interest. 
 
SECTION 10. Implementing Agencies – The Social Security System (SSS) shall be the 
Administrator of the Agricultural Pension Fund, in consultation and coordination with the 
Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation (PCIC) under the Department of Agriculture (DA) to 
ensure proper consideration of the nuances of agricultural production and income generation. The 
SSS shall manage the Agricultural Pension Fund as a separate and distinct fund from the SSS 
Investment Reserve Fund, and have the following responsibilities in relation to the Agricultural 
Pension Fund:  
 
a) Create a pension plan for agricultural pensioners that shall become the basis for the allocation 
of benefits to pensioners;  
 
b) Determine the criteria for eligibility, in coordination with relevant government agencies; 
 
c) Manage and invest the Agricultural Pension Fund properly to ensure sustainability and 
increased capacity to provide benefits;  
 
d) Prepare an annual financial report;   
  
e) Device systems and procedures for the timely imputation of aggregate government contributions 
based on latest poverty statistics and other economic considerations; and 
 
f) Perform other duties and functions towards an efficient and effective implementation of this 
Act.  
 


 
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SECTION 11. Monitoring – An effective and appropriate monitoring and evaluation mechanism 
shall be established by the SSS in partnership with the Department of Finance (DOF), Department 
of Agriculture (DA), and the Local Government Units (LGUs) to ensure proper implementation 
and identification of future improvements. 
 
For the year of its enactment and each year thereafter, the Supervisory Board for the Agricultural 
Pension Fund shall submit an annual report to both Houses of Congress of its accomplishments. A 
review of the viability of the program shall be made by both Houses of Congress and other 
concerned agencies after three (3) years of its implementation. 
 
SECTION 12. Joint Congressional Oversight Committee.– A Joint Congressional Oversight 
Committee, hereafter referred to as the Agricultural Pension Oversight Committee, is hereby 
constituted. The Oversight Committee shall set the overall framework to review the 
implementation of this Act. It shall also determine the inherent weaknesses in the law and 
recommend the necessary remedial legislation or executive measures. 
 
The Oversight Committee is composed of fourteen (14) members, with the chairpersons of the 
Committee on Poverty Alleviation of the House of Representatives, and the Committee on Social 
Justice, Welfare and Rural Development of the Senate as co-chairpersons; and six (6) members 
from each House, to be designated by the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Senate 
President, respectively. The review of the implementation of this Act must include a systematic 
evaluation of its impact, accomplishments of the program, and performance of its implementing 
agencies. The Oversight Committee shall conduct the review every three (3) years 
reckoned from the effectivity of this Act, or whenever deemed necessary by a majority of the 
members of the Oversight Committee. 
 
SECTION 13. Appropriation/Source. – The amount needed for the implementation of this Act 
shall be charged to the current year’s appropriations of the Social Security System. Thereafter, 
such amount as may be necessary for the continued implementation of this Act shall be included 
in the annual General Appropriations Act.  
The income class of cities and municipalities shall be considered in the determination 
of the contribution of the LGUs to the Agricultural Pension Fund. Poor agricultural workers 
in fourth, fifth and sixth class cities and municipalities shall receive a bigger counterpart 
contribution from the national government than the LGUs.   
 
SECTION 14. Implementing Rules and Regulations - Within six (6) months from the 
effectivity of this Act, the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Social Security 
System shall, in coordination with the Department of Agriculture, Department of Agrarian Reform, 
Philippine Statistics Authority, and the Department of the Interior and Local Government with the 
participation of the league of cities, municipalities, and provinces, and relevant stakeholders, 
including select organizations of farmers and fisherfolk, promulgate the rules and regulations 
necessary for the effective implementation of this Act, including mechanisms for grievance 
procedure and resolution of inclusion and exclusion errors.  


 
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SECTION 15. Separability Clause – If any portion or provision of this Act is declared invalid or 
unconstitutional, other provisions not affected thereby shall continue to be in full force and effect.  
 
SECTION 16. Repealing Clause – All laws, decrees, executive orders, rules or regulations 
contrary to or inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are hereby repealed or modified 
accordingly. 
 
SECTION 17. Effectivity – This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after publication in the 
Official Gazette or in newspaper of general circulation. 
 
Approved