THE Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and Bureau of Treasury (BTr) are still looking for sources to fund the additional P500 per month pension of indigent senior citizens this year, National Commission of Senior Citizens Chairperson Franklin Quijano said yesterday.
Quijano, during a public briefing hosted by government station PTV 4, said the additional P500 pension as supposed to be given way back in April this year but it has yet to be implemented due to lack of funds.
“Hinahanapan lang ng pamamaraan para mapondohan ang budget (They’re still finding ways to fund the needed budget),” he said.
Republic Act 11916, or the “Act Increasing the Social Pension of Indigent Senior Citizens,” raised the social pension of indigent senior citizens to P1,000 from P500. The implementing rules and regulations (IRR) for RA 11916 was published in the Official Gazette last March 21, making the law and the new pension effective in April.
Quijano said the implementation would be retroactive, which means that the additional pension starting April would be given to indigent elders as soon as the funds become available.
“Habang naghahanap ng pondo ang DBM at ang ating Treasury, we will have to wait although retroactive ito sa April. April of this year, may one thousand na pong matatanggap but retroactive dahil hinahanapan pa ng pondo (While the DBM and the BTr are still looking for the funds, we will have to wait although this is retroactive to April. Starting April this year, they were supposed to receive P1,000 already. It’s retroactive because we are still looking for funds),” he said.
Qijano said what is certain now is that there will already be a budget allocation for the additional pension in the 2024 budget, which means that indigent senior citizens would get the P1,000 monthly pension starting January of next year.
In the meantime, Quijano encouraged elders to avail of the free medical and dental check-up under the senior citizens’ health insurance.
The Marcos government has allotted P42.93 million for the one-year health insurance premium of 8.5 million senior citizens nationwide, regardless of their socio-economic status.
