THE Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) yesterday reiterated that its monthly P1,000 Social Pension for Indigent Senior Citizens (SocPen), as the name suggests, is only for the indigent and vulnerable elders and not for everyone.
DSWD Assistant Secretary for Protective Programs Ada Colico said the SocPen is different from the Universal Senior Citizen pension still pending in Congress.
“We would like to explain that the DSWD’s SocPen program is different from the Universal Social Pension Bill,” Colico said, amid some social media content that all Filipino seniors, regardless of whether they are rich or poor or already receiving a private pension, are entitled to the SocPen.
“Some posts contain information that may mislead the public, especially the vulnerable. Again, the DSWD would like to reiterate to only refer to our official social media accounts and website,” she added.
Colico said the SocPen is a program under Republic Act No. 9994 or the “Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010” which provides a monthly stipend amounting to P500 to indigent senior citizens to augment their daily subsistence and medical needs.
It was amended through Republic Act No. 11916, “An Act Increasing the Social Pension of Senior Citizens,” which lapsed into law in July 2022, that raised the monthly stipend of indigent elders to P1,000 a month starting January 2024.
Colico said that only indigent senior citizens, have disabilities, are sick, or weak and do not receive any kind of pension, do not receive any help from their families, or do not have any permanent source of income qualify for the SocPen.
She added that to date, DSWD provides pension, distributed either on a monthly, bi-monthly, or quarterly basis, to more than 4.085 million “indigent” senior citizens.
