CENTENARIAN. General Santos City centenarian Cecilia Custodio of Barangay Dadiangas South holds the PHP100,000 cash given by the city government on April 13, 2023 as cash incentives for reaching 100 years old. Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte Jr. on Thursday (March 7, 2024) urged local government executives to assist the National Commission of Senior Citizens (NCSC) in building up the nationwide database of Filipino senior citizens in the country. (Photo courtesy of GenSan CIO)
MANILA – A lawmaker on Thursday urged local government executives to assist the National Commission of Senior Citizens (NCSC) in building up the nationwide database of Filipino senior citizens in the country.
Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte Jr. said the accurate cataloguing of senior citizens is crucial for the government, especially with the recent passage of the law granting benefits to octogenarians and nonagenarians.
Under Republic Act 11982, senior citizens aged 80, 85, 90 and 95, whether residing in the Philippines or abroad, will receive PHP10,000 cash incentive every age milestone and will still receive PHP100,000 upon reaching 100 years old.
Villafuerte said the national database would also help with the distribution of the government's recently-increased monthly pension for indigent senior citizens from PHP500 to PHP1,000.
“I am appealing to our LGU (local government unit) officials to go the extra mile in giving a hand to the NCSC and three more agencies in putting up the Elderly Data Management System or list of elderly Filipinos entitled to the cash bonanza, along with the national database of all senior citizens for the purpose of, among others, determining who among them are actually qualified to receive the monthly allowance for indigent seniors that has been increased beginning this year from PHP500 to PHP1,000,” he said.
He added RA 11982 tasks the NCSC to undertake an online registration of the intended beneficiaries for its would-be Elderly Data Management System, which shall contain all relevant information about elderly Filipinos eligible for the cash gifts.
The database will be developed in coordination with LGUs, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), and the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
“It seems safe to say at this point that the NCSC does not yet have the complete list of all seniors who have reached, or are to about to reach, the ages of 80, 85, 90, 95 or 100, considering that only over 4 million senior citizens have thus far registered on its official website,” he said.
Villafuerte said such an authoritative database will go a long way in helping the NCSC identify all senior citizens, locate them and ensure that they can avail of the benefits intended for them.
He said around 4,419,153 senior citizens have registered as of March 1, 2024 which represents only a third of the 12.2 million Filipinos that the PSA reported to have turned 60 years old as of March 2020.
He cited official government data showing that there are about 4.1 million indigent seniors and 90,000 who are octogenarians, nonagenarians or centenarians.
“Seldom do Filipinos reach the age of 100, so what better way for the national government and the Congress to show our country’s appreciation for the significant contributions of our grandparents and other seniors to society during their relatively more productive years than to give them a cash windfall not only when they become centenarians but even when they turn 80, 85, 90 and 95 years old,” Villafuerte said.
He also supported the proposal to tap the government’s unprogrammed funds or savings to fund the cash gifts to qualified seniors under RA 11982 considering that the new law is not covered by this year's budget.
Earlier, NCSC chairman Franklin Quijano, in a public briefing at Malacañan Palace, sought the help of LGUs and senior citizens’ organizations in updating and completing the commission’s accurate database covering about 12.3 million Filipinos 60 years of age and above, and including their respective health profiles. (PNA)
