Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

2210

House Bill No.

Introduced by Hon. Sol Aragones

EXPLANATORY NOTE

The bill seeks to grant universal social pension for senior citizens, whether or not they
are indigent. To provide inclusive and sustainable coverage, this bill proposes a minimum grant
of Five Hundred Pesos (PHP 500) 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, it is 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 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.

Many factors 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
expanding coverage of these pensions. First, the majority of Filipino workers are working in
the informal employment sector (estimated between 70 and 75%). Second, many workers
simply do not have sufficient disposable income to save for a pension. Furthermore, receipt of
pension does not guarantee 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.

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 meager 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 very 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 by 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 adequately measure issues related to the vulnerability of individual older
people. The increasing role of LGUs in the targeting process is unlikely to resolve 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.

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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 future generations 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.

na
HON. SOY ARAGONES
Representative, Third District of Laguna


Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

House Bill No. Bet

Introduced by Hon. Sol Aragones

AN ACT GRANTING UNIVERAL SOCIAL PENSION TO SENIOR CITIZENS,
FURTHER AMENDING REPUBLIC ACT NO. 7432, AS AMENDED BY RA 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. Number (1), Paragraph (H), Section 5 of the Republic Act No. 7432, as
amended by Republic Act No, 9994, otherwise known as the “Expanded Senior Citizens Act
of 2010”, is hereby further amended to read as follows:

“Section 5. Government Assistance. — The government shall provide the following

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(h) Additional Government Assistance
(1) Social Pension
“[Indigent-senior} ALL SENIOR citizens shall be entitled to a monthly stipend

amounting to A MINIMUM OF Five hundred pesos (Php. 500.00) to augment the daily
subsistence and other medical needs of senior citizens, subject to a review every two (2) years
by Congress, in consultation with the DSWD. PROVIDED, THAT SUCH SENIOR
CITIZEN DOES NOT RECEIVE ANY PENSION FROM THE GOVERNMENT
SERVICE INSURANCE SYSTEM, THE SOCIAL SECURITY SYSTEM, AND OTHER
PUBLIC OR PRIVATE SOCIAL PROTECTION SYSTEM”


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SECTION 2. Separabililty Clause. — 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 3. Repealing Clause. ~ All laws, decrees, executive orders or rules and
regulations contrary to or inconsistent with the provisions of this Act is hereby repealed or
modified accordingly.

SECTION 4. Effectivity Clause. — This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its

publication in the Official Gazette or in any two national newspapers of general circulation.

Approved,