Senate bill doubling indigent seniors’ monthly pension to P1,000 approved on final reading

The Senate on Monday approved on third and final reading a measure increasing the monthly social pension of indigent senior citizens from P500 to P1,000.

Voting 18-0-0, the senators approved Senate Bill 2506 or the Act Increasing the Social Pension of Indigent Senior Citizens and Appropriating Funds Therefor.

SB 2506 hurdled the Senate a week after it was sponsored in the plenary by Senator Joel Villanueva.

Apart from the increase in the monthly social pension for indigent senior citizens, the bill also provides options other than cash payout for the pension to reach the target beneficiary. The transaction fee, if any, shall not be charged to the beneficiary.

The bill also transfers the implementation, distribution, and management of the social pension for senior citizens from the Department of Social Welfare and Development to the National Commission of Senior Citizens (NCSC) within a period not exceeding three years.

“Tumaas na po ang presyo ng bilihin, marapat lang na itaas rin ang monthly social pension ng mga indigent senior citizens from P500 to P1,000,” Villanueva  said in a statement after the passage of SB 2506.

[The prices of goods have gone up, so it is only right that the monthly social pension of indigent senior citizens go up, from P500 to P1,000.]

“May mga seniors po na wala talagang maaasahan at hindi na kayang magtrabaho at hindi kayang suportahan ng mga kamag-anak o kaya walang kamag-anak. [There are seniors who can no longer work and who cannot be supported by their family, or else they have no family.] The P1,000 social pension is the least we can give them,” he added. — BM, GMA News