The grim reality of growing old poor in PH

I was walking in downtown Iloilo when I passed a little old lady very gently taking a bite of some kind of kakanin. She looked so frail and her hands and head were shaking as she ate while sitting next to her little cart filled with the candies and chichirya she was selling. I thought to myself that she should be home relaxing, not out here still trying to make a living.

Later in the day, as I headed home in the outskirts of the city, I saw a very old man, hand tremors evident as he flipped sticks of pork inasal on a grill on the side of the street. I thought he was a customer just taking part in the cooking of his order, but I soon realized that he was actually the inasal vendor.

Perhaps we won’t see scenes like this often if the government did a better job of caring for old people. It is some relief that at 60, one can apply for a senior citizen’s card and avail oneself of discounts on goods and services. But why is it that indigent people have to wait until they reach the age of 77 before they can collect a senior citizen’s pension, when most of the poor don’t even reach 65?

Sixty is the universal commencement of pensionable age, which is why government employees and private insurance pension beneficiaries in the country are able to start collecting their pension at such an age. Then why is it that indigents get to start collecting only at a much later age? Are they less important than the rest of us just because they are poor? Are they not the people who should be among the top priority when it comes to social assistance, precisely because they are indigent and elderly?

A coordinator of the Department of Social Welfare and Development was once asked: “Why 77 years old when senior citizenship starts at 60?” Her reply: “It’s for the simple reason that the older we get, the more help we need.”

I’m sure everyone will agree with that statement, but why create a pension program with an almost-next-to-nothing probability of pension payment to intended beneficiaries? Based on the latest census, those who are 75 and above make up only 22 percent of the total population of those 60 and above. The number of those who qualify for the DSWD pension for indigent senior citizens is even smaller than this figure, as it includes the 75-76 age group and those who don’t qualify as indigents.

To add insult to injury, the monthly benefit that pensioners receive is highly insufficient. The amount of P500 a month is hardly enough to cover food expenses, and there will be nothing else left for medical and other basic needs. The per capita income of those who fall below the poverty level is P16,841 a year, or about P1,400 a month. And the pensioners receive only about a third of what’s already considered below-the-poverty-line income.

The Extended Seniors Citizens Act implemented in 2010 stipulates that the monthly amount for pensioners is subject to a review every two years by Congress. Three years have now passed and there’s still no review. This, again, leads me to ask: Has this promise been relegated to the sidelines because of the indigent pensioners’ insignificance to our society? Are our government officials immune to the sight of elderly people squatting on sidewalks hoping to sell a few pieces of dried fish, or walking dark and dangerous streets at night carrying a heavy basket of balut?

Sadly, we live in a society where the alleviation of poverty is not the only thing given the least priority. It seems that the older one gets in the Philippines, one tends to be discarded and eventually forgotten. Even the Philippine labor market is marked by age discrimination. When one is past the age of 30, one is no longer considered bankable as most job postings have an age specification: One must be between the ages of 20 and 30.

Of course, there are jobs where age limitation is necessary; I am referring to those in which youthfulness is not a significant factor in a person’s ability to perform the job properly or affect the level of productivity. But it is the older people who have more experience and better knowledge, and who should therefore be given preference. Is this something that is yet to be realized by Philippine employers, or is this just their way of saying, “Hey, we’re cheap, we don’t want to pay higher salaries”?

Perhaps the DSWD’s means-tested social pension program was only established as the government’s attempt to paint a perception of the Philippines as a socially conscious country. But does it truly take care of its elderly people, including the poor, when it sets the eligibility age at a level that is barely attainable to most, and furnishes a provision that is way below the minimum standard of living?

All of us have elderly relatives and friends, and we are all heading in that direction. Some of us are blessed with financial security or receive a substantial pension from years of government service or from private contributions. But there are those who have worked as hard, maybe even harder, but are still struggling. The least the government can do is to help them breathe a little easier in their twilight years by providing an adequate and timely pension.

Sherry Legislador, 40, is a Filipino-Canadian with a background in accounting. She lived in Canada for 20 years before moving back to the Philippines two years ago.