(Photo Courtesy: DSWD, DBM)

QUEZON CITY, (PIA) – The Department of Budget and Management (DBM)allocated P49.81 billion for the social pension of indigent senior citizens  in the proposed 2024 National Expenditure Program.

The allocation is twice the amount of the previous P25.30 billion budget provision for the senior citizens’ monthly pension in the approved 2023 General Appropriations Act (GAA). 

Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman said the increase will cover the additional P500 monetary grant to the initial P500 government monthly allowance of more than 4 million senior citizens who do not belong to any government or private pension system. 

The initiative is viewed to be the direct outcome of the implementation of Republic Act 11916, otherwise known as the Social Pension for Indigent Seniors Act, which was signed into law on July 30, 2022 to bring the mandatory social safety assistance to not less than P1,000. 

Prior to the institutionalization of the said legislation, senior indigents are only entitled to P500 monthly stipend through the Social Pension for Indigent Senior Citizens (SPIC) Program in accordance with the Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010. 

The SPIC aims to supplement the daily subsistence and medical needs of the vulnerable elderly population, particularly those sickly, with disabilities, and who receive no financial support from family and relatives. 

Meanwhile, the 2024 funding for the implementation of SPIC will come from the proposed P2.183 trillion budget allocation covering the Social Service Sector which corresponds to 37.9 percent of the NEP. (DBM/PIA-NCR)