BEGINNING February 2024, indigent senior citizens who are beneficiaries of the Social Pension program of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) will start receiving P1,000 monthly pension.
In a statement, Assistant Secretary for Strategic Communications Romel Lopez said Monday, January 22, 2024, that the funds for the augmentation of the monthly financial assistance for the indigent senior citizens under the program were already approved under the agency’s 2024 budget.
“We expect that the distribution of the social pension for the first semester with its increased amount will commence this February 2024,” he said.
“The funds increasing the monthly stipend for social pensioners were already approved and included in the 2024 budget of the agency,” he added.
The increase in the monthly pension, from P500 to P1,000, was approved under Republic Act 11916, which lapsed into law in July 2022.
The program aims to cushion the impact of high inflation, which has resulted in the increase in the prices of basic commodities, including rice, the staple food in the table of Filipino families.
The monthly social pension for seniors is given to the qualified beneficiaries, including indigent senior citizens who are frail, sickly, or have a disability, or those who have no permanent source of income, and regular support from their family or relatives, on a semestral basis with a total amount of P6,000 per payout to augment their daily subsistence including their medical needs.
Lopez also clarified that eligible senior citizens are those not receiving pensions from the Social Security System (SSS), Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), Philippine Veterans Affairs Office (PVAO), Armed Forces and Police Mutual Benefit Association, Inc. (AFPMBAI), or any other private insurance company.
He said there were around 4,085,066 indigent senior citizens who benefit from the program. (TPM/SunStar Philippines)