Lanao del Norte – The Department of Social Welfare and Development has paid Social Pension amounting to more than P2.59 Million as Social Pension for 1,729 indigent senior citizens here today, March 26, 2015.

The Social Pension Program is the national government’s response to help augment the daily needs of indigent senior citizens such as medicine and food, based on Republic Act 9994 otherwise known as the “the Expanded Senior Citizens Act.”

Qualified beneficiaries of the Social Pension Program, which provides a subsidy of P500.00 per month, are those aged 65 years old and above and are considered as poor under the database of Listahanan, a system run by the DSWD that generates a list of who and where the poor are in the country.

The beneficiaries are also those that are not receiving any other social insurances such as GSIS, SSS, and the like.

The DSWD is currently lobbying with lawmakers to extend the age coverage of the program, including the amount to be given to the indigent senior citizens to cope with the inflation status of the country. DSWD however emphasizes that this will depend upon the approval of the legislative body on the agency’s proposed budget, and the availability of government resources.

Written by Charmaine P. Tadlas, DSWD