THE Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) yesterday said there is no backlog or delay in the distribution of social pension for senior citizens.
DSWD Assistant Secretary and spokesman Romel Lopez said in a radio interview that the P500 per month or P6,000 per year pension of the 4.1 million indigent senior citizens was given on time, and the department distributed the pension on a semi-annual scheme or every six months.
In the case of the 466,000 indigent senior citizens covered by the reported backlog, Lopez said these are individuals in the waiting list. He said no fund has been allotted for them because the available social pension is good for only 4.1 million beneficiaries.
For this year, he also said, the DSWD received a budget of P25 million, and this has been increased to P49 million for 2024 to accommodate the increase in pension to P1,000 from P500 a month, in accordance with Republic Act (RA) 11916 or an Act Increasing the Social Pension of Indigent Senior Citizens.
He said this means that despite the increase in budget, the department can only accommodate the current 4.1 million beneficiaries.
Lopez said a slot in the indigent senior citizen’s pension program opens only after a beneficiary passes away.
He said at least 93,000 senior citizens exit the program annually, but not enough to accommodate those in the waiting list which he said continues to increase annually and have already risen to 466,000 this year.
Lopez said one way to accommodate the senior citizens in the waiting list is for government to allot a higher budget for the social pension of senior citizens.
Senior citizens who are eligible for the social pension are those who are frail, sickly or with a disability; without pension from the Social Security System (SSS), Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), or from any sources of pension in government and private agencies; and without any permanent source of income, compensation or financial assistance from relatives to support their basic needs.
The social pension program aims to augment the daily subsistence and other medical needs of indigent senior citizens.
