SPEAKING AT a seminar in Washington DC in 2002, Prof. Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel prize winner and former chief economist of the World Bank, said: “There is no subject of greater importance than the aging of the population and the provision of social protection for older people. It affects the very nature of our societies, and concerns not only older people but all sections of the population.”
Following advisories from both the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, a good number of countries (some economically poorer than the Philippines, including Bangladesh, Botswana, Nepal and Bolivia), have initiated social pension programs for the elderly poor.
In the year 2011, the Department of Social Welfare and Development, pursuant to Republic Act 9994 (Expanded Senior Citizen Act of 2010), began distributing social pensions to the “poorest of the poor” among the elderly aged 77 and above.
A research conducted in various countries (e.g., Brazil, South Africa, Nepal) found that a social pension for older people provides both economic and social benefits:
It improves their health;
It increases their social standing within their families and communities;
It plays a significant role in reducing poverty;
It helps achieve development;
It is valuable for the welfare of poor elderly women.
It was through the initiative of the poor elderly people in community-based programs that the provision on social pension was included in RA 9994. Former Rep. Ed Zialcita and Sen. Pia Cayetano should also be credited for the law’s passage. The law has other benefits for the elderly, but as a poor elderly woman noted, “What good are discounts if you have no money to begin with?”
At the meeting of the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC), held at Ciudad Christhia on April 6-8, 2011, a number of organizations representing elderly people issued a resolution asking the NAPC to petition both President Aquino and the DSWD to include in the 2012 budget a social pension of P500 per month for the “poorest of the poor” (indicators specified in the IRR) among the elderly, specifically those 60 years old and above.
At present, less than 20 percent of the 1 million “poorest of the poor” receive the social pension. If every member of our Congress gave 20 percent of their countryside development allotment, that would be enough to cover all those who fall under that category. Given the benefits cited above, why wait longer? Why wait for legislation that isn’t intended to be implemented?
—DIOSCORRO BENALLA,
president, Confederation of Older Peoples Associations of the Philippines;
FRANSISKUS KUPANG, executive director,
Coalition of Services of the Elderly Inc.