Indigent senior citizens of Tamparan, Lanao del Sur receive P6,000 as their semestral social pension on June 17, 2024. (Norjana Malawi/BIO)
LANAO DEL SUR —The Bangsamoro Government, through the Ministry of Social Services and Development (MSSD), began the distribution of an increased social pension (SocPen) to 64,939 indigent senior citizens of this province, including Marawi City, on June 17, 2024.
The increase in their pensions amounting to P6,000 each as their semestral cash assistance is legally bound by Republic Act 11916, or the SocPen for Indigent Seniors Act, which lapsed into law on July 30, 2022. Their monthly pension, previously set at PHP 500, has now been raised to PHP 1,000 starting this year.
According to Amerah Amer, the MSSD-Lanao del Sur’s Project Development Officer for the Social Pension (SocPen) Program, the monthly pension needed to be increased due to the rising prices of essential goods such as food and medicine.
“Nag-increase po tayo [social pension] from P500 to P1,000 a month dahil nakikita po natin na nahihirapan ang ating mga senior citizen dahil sa pagtaas ng presyo ng mga pagkain gaya ng bigas at ng kanilang gamot”, Amer said.
[“We increased (the social pension) from P500 to P1,000 a month because we see that our senior citizens are struggling due to the rising prices of food like rice and their medicine.]
Chairman of the Office of Senior Citizens Affairs (OSCA) Abdulazis Batara in Tamparan, Lanao del Sur, expressed his gratitude, stating that this is a significant help for poor senior citizens, especially those with medical conditions.
“Ang indigent senior citizens ng Municipality of Tamparan ay lubos pong nagpapasalamat sa ating gobyerno sa pagtaas ng aming natatanggap na social pension. Napakalaki po itong tulong sa amin dahil hindi na kaming masyadong mahihirapan sa pagbili ng aming maintenance na gamot”, said OSCA-Tamparan Chair Batara.
[“The indigent senior citizens of the Municipality of Tamparan are very grateful to our government for increasing the social pension we receive. This is a huge help to us because we will no longer struggle as much to buy our maintenance medicine.]
According to Potre Nor-Aliah Bubong, the Regional Focal Person of the SocPen Program, the total number of target beneficiaries this year in the Bangsamoro region is 173,408 senior citizens, equivalent to more than two billion pesos worth of social pension budget.
The Social Pension for Indigent Senior Citizens (SPISC) Program, also known as SocPen, is a nationally-funded government assistance program implemented in the region by MSSD. Its primary aim is to improve the living conditions of its senior citizen beneficiaries.
The target beneficiaries of the SPISC Program are those who are at least 60 years old, frail and sickly or with a disability, without a permanent source of income, not receiving any pension from government or non-government institutions, and those with no regular support from family or relatives. Through this intervention, the government ultimately seeks to prevent the neglect, abuse, or deprivation of senior citizens in marginalized communities. (Norjana Malawi/BIO)
