‘Special gift’ spotlights neglect of retirees

President Aquino has approved an extra Christmas bonus for government employees, this aside from the 13th-month pay. It certainly is good tidings for them and their families. But the President has forgotten or ignored a more needy and even more deserving sector of our society—the senior citizens.

Since the administration of President Cory to the present, there has been a series of salary adjustments for public employees. But no increase has been given to the senior citizens’ pensions. Our leaders seem to think that retirees and senior citizens have exhausted their usefulness. So they can now be ignored and forgotten.

We appeal to the President: Do not give senior citizens the feeling that you and your administration also do not care for senior citizens.

The previous administration called the overseas Filipino workers our country’s modern-day heroes. But if there are heroes, it is us who stayed, who did not leave, who did not run away from the challenges, who should be called heroes.

Despite the fact that we were deprived because of an unfair national policy and law, we did not take the law into our hands; we remained good, loyal and dedicated citizens. Despite the shortcomings, inadequacies and foolishness of our leaders, we followed, respected and upheld the rule of law.

Sec. 4 (k) of the Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2003 (Republic Act  9259) specifically states: “retirement benefits of retirees from both the government and the private sector shall be regularly reviewed to ensure their continuing responsiveness and sustainability, and to the extent practicable and feasible, shall be upgraded to be at par with the current scale enjoyed by those in actual service.”

At present, the basic monthly salary of a public elementary school teacher is P18,000. This December they get to receive their 13th month pay of P18,000; plus the additional gift of P10,000.

How about the frail, retired school teachers who are 70 years old and over? There are those who receive less than P5,000 a month. Those in the lower rungs, like foremen, clerks and laborers, receive P3,000 or less.  Among the SSS pensioners, this range of pension is common.

This extreme inequity demands immediate action and reparation. It is a pathetic condition for the men and women who had invested the best years of their lives for our beloved country. I see them, meet them and talk with them at the GSIS and SSS regional offices in Cebu City where they have to submit themselves to the requirements of these offices so they can receive their measly pensions. Some come in wheelchairs or are carried or physically supported by relatives and kind-hearted friends. Some live with people who are not themselves well-off.

It is not right, just or fair that more able and healthier citizens enjoy so much while weak, frail senior citizens who dedicated their lives to public service are neglected and left to suffer in poverty.

—JOSE R. GAPAS,

president and chairman

of the board of trustees,

Soil and Water Conservation Foundation Inc.,

[email protected]