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Republic of the Philippines 
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
Batasan Hills, Quezon City 
NINETEENTH CONGRESS 
Second Regular Session 
HOUSE BILL _____ 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
Introduced by  
ACT Teachers Party-List Rep. FRANCE L. CASTRO,  
GABRIELA Women’s Party Rep. ARLENE D. BROSAS,  
and KABATAAN Party-List Rep. RAOUL DANNIEL A. MANUEL 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
AN ACT 
INCREASING THE MONTHLY SOCIAL PENSION OF SENIOR CITIZENS 
EXPANDING THE COVERAGE THEREOF 
EXPLANATORY NOTE 
More than ninety percent of our population continues to work hard for a living. 
Under the term of President Duterte, the Philippines experienced the worst 
economic situation since 1945. Based on the report of the Philippine Statistics Authority 
(PSA), the Philippine gross domestic product (GDP) contracted by 16.9% during the 
second quarter of 2020, which is even lower than the -7.3% GDP growth rate posted in 
1984 and 1985. 
Moreover, even before the onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Philippine 
GDP was already slowing down.  From 7.1% in 2016, it went down to 6.1% in 2019 
and pummeled down to -9.5% in 2020.  Coming from a drastic drop in GDP growth rate 
in 2020, the PSA recorded a 5.7% and 7.6 GDP growth rate in 2021 and 2022, 
respectively.  Under the second year of the Marcos Jr. administration (2023), only 5.6% 
GDP growth rate was recorded, which is below the targeted 6.5-8.0% GDP growth rate 
under the Medium-Term Fiscal Framework 2022-2028. 
According to the independent think-tank IBON, the Philippines has the 5.7% 
unemployment rate as of April 2022, second highest in Southeast Asia following 
Indonesia with 5.8% as of February 2022.  Even though the Philippine economy posted 
7.1% year-on-year gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the third quarter of 2021, 
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the Filipino people are not feeling the effects of the economic recovery.  Based on their 
observations, informal work became more prevalent as employment dropped 
significantly. 
The prospects for the majority of Filipinos can only worsen with slowing 
economic growth.  Additional taxes—especially consumption taxes—and very low 
wages have further decreased the income of the poorest sectors of the society.  What is 
worse though is that one sector heavily affected by this situation are our senior citizens 
or the elderly.  
There is therefore a felt need to provide our senior citizens additional and better 
benefits than what are presently provided under present laws, especially now that with 
old age their health starts to fail, yet they could no longer or they are hard put to provide 
for themselves. 
The proportion of the older population is rising worldwide.  The same is 
happening in the Philippines where from 3.7 million or 5.4% of the population in 1995, 
the senior citizen population has increased to 5.8 million or 6.5% of the population as 
of 2010.  According to the 2020 survey of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), 
there are an estimated 9.2 million senior citizens.  Based on the National Expenditure 
Program FY 2024, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) targets 
that 4,085,066 senior citizens will receive social pension.  Moreover, it is projected that 
around 80% of the senior citizens are using social pension to augment their daily living 
subsistence and medical needs. 
Based on the study of Coalition of the Services of the Elderly (COSE),1 only 
17% of senior citizens receive a social pension at ₱500, while the majority or 54% do 
not receive any pension at all.  Even among those who are receiving pension (SSS, GSIS 
and others), for SSS pensioners in particular, a third or 34% receive less than 
₱2,000/month while more than half or 52% receive less than ₱3,000. 
According to the PSA, poverty incidence among Filipino families in the first 
semester of 2023 was estimated at 22.4%.  But these figures are based on a very low 
poverty threshold set by the government which was ₱13,797/month for a family of five, 
or ₱91.98/day or ₱2,759.40/month per person. Even this very low poverty threshold 
shows how inadequate the present P1,000-social pension is. 
In response to the clamor of indigent senior citizens, this Bill was filed by the 
Makabayan Bloc during the 17th Congress and was approved at the committee level.  It 
was refiled in the 18th Congress by Bayan Muna Representatives Ferdinand R. Gaite, 
Carlos Isagani T. Zarate and Eufemia C. Cullamat as House Bill 241, which was 
substituted by House Bill 9459. 
1 Aksyon sa Pensyon. “Aksyon sa Pensyon (AkaP) Coalition and various organizations in the Philippines call
for a Universal Social Pension of one thousand pesos for all senior citizens.” Coalition of Services of the 
Elderly. Retrieved from https://cose.org.ph/resource/  


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On 1 June 2021, during the second reading of the legislative measure, Bayan 
Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate successfully removed from the definition of “indigent senior 
citizen” the discriminatory requirement that the senior citizen must be “frail, sickly or 
with disability” in order to receive the ₱1,000-monthly social pension.  In effect, the 
amount of social pension was not only doubled, the coverage was further expanded.  
The amended House Bill 9459 was approved by the House of Representatives on third 
reading last 2 August 2021 with a vote of 227-0-0. 
The House of Representatives adopted the Senate version of the legislative 
measure—Senate Bill 2506, which lapsed into law as Republic Act 11916 on 30 July 
2022.  Sadly, the Senate version of the Bill did not include the anti-discriminatory 
amendment introduced by Bayan Muna Party-List. 
In view of the foregoing, as well as the need to further increase the meager 
₱1,000-monthly social pension to at least ₱2,000, the immediate passage of this Bill is 
earnestly sought. 
________________________________ 
Rep. FRANCE L. CASTRO 
ACT Teachers Party-List 
________________________________ 
Rep. ARLENE D. BROSAS 
GABRIELA Women’s Party 
________________________________ 
Rep. RAOUL DANNIEL A. MANUEL 
KABATAAN Party-List 


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Republic of the Philippines 
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
Batasan Hills, Quezon City 
NINETEENTH CONGRESS 
Second Regular Session 
HOUSE BILL _____ 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
Introduced by  
ACT Teachers Party-List Rep. FRANCE L. CASTRO,  
GABRIELA Women’s Party Rep. ARLENE D. BROSAS,  
and KABATAAN Party-List Rep. RAOUL DANNIEL A. MANUEL 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
AN ACT 
INCREASING THE MONTHLY SOCIAL PENSION OF SENIOR CITIZENS 
EXPANDING THE COVERAGE THEREOF 
Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Republic of the 
Philippines in Congress assembled: 
SECTION 1. Section 2 of Republic Act No. 7432, as amended, is hereby further 
amended to read as follows: 
“Sec. 2. Definition of Terms. – For purposes of this Act, these terms are defined 
as follows: 
(a) xxx;
xxx; 
(h) Indigent senior citizen, refers to any elderly who is [frail, sickly or with
disability, and] without pension or permanent source of income, compensation or
financial assistance from his/her relatives to support his/her basic needs, as
determined by the Department of Social Welfare and development (DSWD) in
consultation with the [National Coordinating and Monitoring Board]
NATIONAL 
COMMISSION 
OF 
SENIOR 
CITIZENS 
(NCSC).
THEREAFTER, THE DETERMINATION OF QUALIFIED INDIGENT
ELDERLY SHALL BE TRANSFERRED FULLY FROM THE DSWD TO
THE NCSC WITHIN A PERIOD NOT EXCEEDING THREE (3) YEARS
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FROM THE EFFECTIVITY OF THIS ACT; 
 
(i) Social Pension refers to the monetary grant from the government to support the 
daily subsistence and medical needs of senior citizens which shall not be less than 
[One] TWO thousand pesos [(P1,000.00)] (P2,000.00) per month.” 
 
SEC. 2. Section 5 of the same Act, as amended, is hereby further amended to read as 
follows: 
  
“Section 2. Definition of Terms. — For purposes of this Act, these terms are defined 
as follows: 
 
(a) xxx; 
 
xxx; 
 
(h) Additional Government Assistance 
 
(1) Mandatory Social Pension 
 
[Indigent] ALL senior citizens WITHOUT PENSION OR WHO ARE 
RECEIVING PENSION IN THE AMOUNT OF FIVE THOUSAND PESOS 
(P5,000.00) AND BELOW FROM GOVERNMENT SERVICE INSURANCE 
SYSTEM (GSIS), SOCIAL SECURITY SYSTEM (SSS) AND PENSION 
AND GRATUITY MANAGEMENT (PGMC), shall be entitled to a monthly 
stipend amounting to not less than [One] TWO thousand pesos [(P1,000.00)] 
(P2,000.00) to augment the daily subsistence and other medical needs of senior 
citizens. 
 
The DSWD shall, subject to the approval of the Department of Budget and 
Management (DBM), in consultation with other stakeholders, review and, when 
necessary, adjust the amount of the social pension every two (2) years after the 
effectivity of this Act, taking into account the present consumer price index as 
published by the PSA and relevant economic indicators, as reported and published 
by pertinent government agencies and authorities. 
 
ANY SENIOR CITIZEN MAY OPT NOT TO RECEIVE THE MONTHLY 
SOCIAL PENSION, AND DONATE 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 
AUGMENT THE MEDICAL NEEDS OF THE SENIOR CITIZENS IN THE 
CONGRESSIONAL 
DISTRICT 
WHERE 
THE 
OSCA 
AND 
THE 
GOVERNMENT-ACCREDITED NGO FOR SENIOR CITIZENS ARE 
SITUATED. 


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x x x” 
 
SEC. 3. Implementing Rules and Regulations. — Within thirty (30) days from the 
effectivity of this Act, the NCSC shall, in consultation with the DSWD, DBM and other 
concerned government agencies, as well as non-government organizations and people’s 
organizations of senior citizens duly accredited by the DSWD, promulgate the 
necessary rules and regulations for the effective implementation of this Act. 
 
SEC. 4. Appropriations. — The amount necessary for the initial implementation of this 
Act shall be charged against the current appropriations of the DSWD. Thereafter, such 
amount necessary for the continued implementation of this Act shall be included in the 
annual General Appropriations Act. 
 
SEC. 5. Separability 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. 
  
SEC. 6. Repealing Clause. — 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. 
  
SEC. 7. Effectivity Clause. — This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after 
publication in the Official Gazette or in any newspaper of general circulation. 
  
  
Approved,