Republic of the Philippines 
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
Quezon City 
NINETEENTH CONGRESS 
First Regular Session 
 House Bill No. ____ 
______________________________________________________________________ 
Introduced by  
Senior Citizens Party-List Representative RODOLFO “OMPONG” M. ORDANES 
______________________________________________________________________ 
EXPLANATORY NOTE 
The dream of every Filipino has always been to comfortably retire once they become 
senior citizens. Time and again, all of us have imagined ourselves in the Filipino dream of retiring on 
our own abode with a sizeable nest egg that will take care of us for the rest of our golden years. 
However, the rising cost of goods and healthcare coupled with the slow increase in income has made 
this dream of our senior citizens remain just a dream. 
Today, senior citizens are unable to fully enjoy retirement because they are unable to save 
enough money to compete with the rising costs of being senior citizens. According to the Philippine 
Statistics Authority’s (PSA) Philippine National Health Accounts, senior citizens spent PhP 171.55 billion 
pesos for their health alone in 2018. Studies show that a comfortable retirement in the Philippines 
would require around PhP 40,000 to PhP 60,000 per month. However, compared to the high costs of 
retirement, PSA data shows that a significant majority or seventy-five percent (75%) of senior citizens 
are not covered by social security or retirement plan. Of those receiving a monthly pension, sixty percent 
(60%) receive below PhP 5,000 per month while only four percent (4%) receive a monthly pension of 
PhP 30,000 and above. Thus, a significant majority of senior citizens are constrained to heavily rely on 
their savings upon retirement.1 
Unfortunately, Filipino retirees were found to have limited savings for their retirement. 
According to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Filipinos have only 3.6 months’ worth of income for 
1
Mina, C. and Cacnio, F. (2019), “Are Filipino Senior Citizens Financially Protected?: Evidence  
from Consumer Finance Survey,” 14th National Convention on Statistics, Retrieved from:  
https://psa.gov.ph/sites/default/files/7.4.2%20Are%20Filipino%20Retirees%20and%20Would-
be%20Retirees%20Sufficiently%20Protected%20Evidence%20from%20a%20Household-
based%20Survey.pdf 
August 4, 2022
3:47 pm
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retirement. Meanwhile, the average savings of a Filipino family is only around PhP 52,000 per year.2 
Thus it is almost impossible for our senior citizens to comfortably retire today. 
 
This situation constrains senior citizens to seek employment. Unfortunately, due to our laws on 
compulsory retirement and existing prejudice on the capability of senior citizens to perform any job well 
or the possibility of senior citizen employment to take jobs from the youth, senior citizens are relegated 
into situation where they have to become part of the unsafe informal economy or rely on handouts by 
their relatives just to survive. 
 
However, these misconceptions are false. According to the Harvard Business Review, the 
knowledge and expertise of senior citizen employees, the main predictors of job performance, kept 
increasing even beyond the age of 80. In a 2021 World Bank Research, it found that senior citizen 
employment has a positive correlation with youth employment as the former simulates economic activity 
that accelerates job creation. Moreover, it was found that senior citizen employment combats 
depression that almost 50% of unemployed senior citizens suffer from. 
 
The current predicament of our senior citizens runs contrary to the 1987 Philippine Constitution 
which mandates that the State has a duty to care for its elderly members through programs of social 
security3 and the State's policy under existing laws which emphasizes its mandate to re-affirm the 
valued Filipino tradition of caring for the senior citizens and foster their capacity to attain more 
meaningful and productive aging.4 
 
This measure seeks to partially increase the savings of our senior citizens and augment their 
income for their daily subsistence. Through this, we, as a nation, can finally fulfill our Constitutional 
mandate to promote social justice by protecting and uphold the welfare of the vulnerable sectors of 
our society while helping them achieve the Filipino dream of a comfortable retirement.  
 
In view of this, the passage of the bill is sought. 
 
 
RODOLFO “OMPONG” M. ORDANES 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2  
PSA, 2015 Family Income and Expenditure Survey. 
3    
Phil. Const. Art. XV Section 4. 
4   
Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010. 


Republic of the Philippines 
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
Quezon City, Metro Manila 
NINETEENTH CONGRESS 
First Regular Session 
House Bill No. ____ 
______________________________________________________________________ 
Introduced by 
Senior Citizens Party-List Representative RODOLFO “OMPONG” M. ORDANES 
______________________________________________________________________ 
AN ACT  
REPEALING COMPULSORY RETIREMENT UNDER ARTICLE 287, TITLE II, BOOK VI OF THE 
LABOR CODE OF THE PHILIPPINES 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of Philippines in Congress assembled: 
Section 1.  Article 287, Title II, Book VI of the Labor Code of the Philippines is hereby amended, to 
read as follows: 
" Art. 287. Retirement. Any employee may be retired upon reaching the retirement 
age established in the collective bargaining agreement or other applicable employment 
contract. 
In case of retirement, the employee shall be entitled to receive such retirement benefits 
as he may have earned under existing laws and any collective bargaining agreement and 
other agreements: Provided, however, That an employee’s retirement benefits under any 
collective bargaining and other agreements shall not be less than those provided therein. 
In the absence of a retirement plan or agreement providing for retirement benefits of 
employees in the establishment, an employee upon reaching the age of sixty (60) years 
or more, but not beyond sixty-five (65) years which is hereby declared the compulsory 
retirement age , who has served at least five (5) years in the said establishment, may 
retire and shall be entitled to retirement pay equivalent to at least one-half (1/2) month 
salary for every year of service, a fraction of at least six (6) months being considered as 
one whole year. 
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AN EMPLOYEE WHO REACHED THE AGE OF SIXTY-FIVE (65) YEARS CAN 
CHOOSE TO CONTINUE THEIR EMPLOYMENT  PROVIDED THAT HE QUALIFIES 
UNDER THE BONA FIDE OCCUPATIONAL QUALIFICATIONS OF HIS JOB. THE 
BURDEN TO PROVE OTHERWISE IS WITH THE EMPLOYER. 
 
X x x.” 
 
Section 2. Repealing Clause. - All law, executive orders, rules, and regulations or any part thereof 
inconsistent herewith are deemed repealed or modified accordingly. 
 
Section 3. Separability Clause. - If any part or provision of this Act shall be declared unconstitutional 
and invalid, such declaration shall not invalidate other parts thereof which shall remain in full force and 
effect. 
 
Section 4. Effectivity. - This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days its complete publication n the Official 
Gazette or in at least two (2) newspapers of general circulation, whichever comes earlier. 
 
 
Approved,