DSWD wants P4.8B to provide allowances to 740K senior citizens in 2015
Around 740,000 indigent senior citizens may receive a P500 monthly allowance next year if Congress approves the P4.8 billion budget sought by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) for its social pension program for the elderly.
The proposed 2015 budget for the DSWD’s Social Pension for Indigent Senior Filipino Citizens is 53.2 percent higher than the P2.87 billion allocation it received this year.
According to Makati City Rep. Abigail Binay, 739,609 senior citizens living in poverty will benefit from the social program if the fresh funding is approved, compared to the 479,080 beneficiaries for 2014.
“With the incremental funding, we expect a greater number of indigent seniors, including those in the 65 to 76 age bracket, to benefit from the monthly stipend,” she said in a statement Sunday.
Republic Act 9994 or the Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010 mandates the provision of a P500 monthly stipend to needy senior citizens to augment their funds for daily subsistence and other medical needs.
At present, the priority beneficiaries of the P500 monthly allowance from DSWD are seniors 77 years old and above who are not receiving any pension from either the Social Security System, Government Service Insurance System, or any retirement fund; those who are frail, sickly, or have disability, and those who do not have a permanent source of income or regular support from kin.
Another item for senior citizens that has seen an increase in next year’s national expenditure program is the Health Department’s pneumococcal vaccination initiative, which has a proposed budget of P3.3 billion.
The program is expected to benefit 1.4 million senior citizens, 2.2 million children and 429,000 infants.
Discount on terminal fees
Meanwhile, a lawmaker has proposed to include passenger terminal fees in the list of discounted fees for senior citizens to make traveling more affordable for them.
Bacolod City Rep. Evelio Leonardia has filed House Bill 4697, which seeks to provide a 20-percent discount on all terminal fees in airports, seaports and bus or vehicle terminals for senior citizens.
Under the Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010, senior citizens are granted a 20-percent discount on actual and advanced booking transportation fare for domestic air transport services and sea shipping vessels and the like. Passenger terminal fees, however, are not included in the list of travel expenses that can be reduced by 20 percent.
Leonardia said in the bill’s explanatory note that the inclusion of the passenger terminal fees in the list of discounted fees for senior citizens would not only benefit the elderly, but also the local tourism industry.
“[This will] bolster tourism all over the country by promoting discounted local travel to senior citizens,” he said. — Xianne Arcangel/JDS, GMA News
SOURCE: http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/377196/news/nation/dswd-wants-p4-8b-to-provide-allowances-to-740k-senior-citizens-in-2015
The proposed 2015 budget for the DSWD’s Social Pension for Indigent Senior Filipino Citizens is 53.2 percent higher than the P2.87 billion allocation it received this year.
According to Makati City Rep. Abigail Binay, 739,609 senior citizens living in poverty will benefit from the social program if the fresh funding is approved, compared to the 479,080 beneficiaries for 2014.
“With the incremental funding, we expect a greater number of indigent seniors, including those in the 65 to 76 age bracket, to benefit from the monthly stipend,” she said in a statement Sunday.
Republic Act 9994 or the Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010 mandates the provision of a P500 monthly stipend to needy senior citizens to augment their funds for daily subsistence and other medical needs.
At present, the priority beneficiaries of the P500 monthly allowance from DSWD are seniors 77 years old and above who are not receiving any pension from either the Social Security System, Government Service Insurance System, or any retirement fund; those who are frail, sickly, or have disability, and those who do not have a permanent source of income or regular support from kin.
Another item for senior citizens that has seen an increase in next year’s national expenditure program is the Health Department’s pneumococcal vaccination initiative, which has a proposed budget of P3.3 billion.
The program is expected to benefit 1.4 million senior citizens, 2.2 million children and 429,000 infants.
Discount on terminal fees
Meanwhile, a lawmaker has proposed to include passenger terminal fees in the list of discounted fees for senior citizens to make traveling more affordable for them.
Bacolod City Rep. Evelio Leonardia has filed House Bill 4697, which seeks to provide a 20-percent discount on all terminal fees in airports, seaports and bus or vehicle terminals for senior citizens.
Under the Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010, senior citizens are granted a 20-percent discount on actual and advanced booking transportation fare for domestic air transport services and sea shipping vessels and the like. Passenger terminal fees, however, are not included in the list of travel expenses that can be reduced by 20 percent.
Leonardia said in the bill’s explanatory note that the inclusion of the passenger terminal fees in the list of discounted fees for senior citizens would not only benefit the elderly, but also the local tourism industry.
“[This will] bolster tourism all over the country by promoting discounted local travel to senior citizens,” he said. — Xianne Arcangel/JDS, GMA News
SOURCE: http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/377196/news/nation/dswd-wants-p4-8b-to-provide-allowances-to-740k-senior-citizens-in-2015
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