Senior citizens organizations in Quezon City called on President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to address the non-payment of the PHP1,000 monthly social pension of over 800,000 indigent and sickly senior citizens who qualified for the financial aid program but remained in its waiting list, some of them over two years now.

In separate statements, senior citizens associations in Barangays Marilag, West Kamias and Milagrosa, headed by Ben Rosario, Ted Toribio and Melchor Paguio, respectively, said President Marcos can deal with the issue while the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA) is still being reviewed by Malacañang.

They slammed Congress for giving budgetary priority to supposed social aid programs suspected of being utilized to oil the respective political machinery of lawmakers in time for next year’s mid-term elections, referring to the Assistance for Individuals in Crisis Situations and the Ayuda para sa Kapos ang Kita Program (AKAP).

The three organization leaders said government has both the moral and legal responsibility to implement the provisions of Republic Act No. 7432 or the Social Pension for Indigent Senior Citizens (SPISC) which grants impoverished and sickly elderly Filipinos a PHP1,000 monthly pension.

Rosario noted that over 800,000 indigent elderly Filipinos who qualified as recipients of RA 7432 have not yet received their PHP1,000 monthly social pension they are entitled to under RA 7432.

Paguio assailed as “grossly unfair” to indigent seniors the bicameral conference committee’s decision to allocate huge budget for AKAP and AICS that have allegedly become congressional pork barrel.

“The budgetary constraint being experienced in the implementation of RA 7432 was triggered by the diversion of allocation toward political patronage thru AKAP and AICS. This is grossly unfair to the 800,000 indigent senior citizens waitlisted in the social pension program,” said Paguio.

Toribio, on the other hand, appealed to President Marcos to grant what senior citizens deserved under the law.

“Under the law, elderly Filipinos classified by DSWD as indigent, frail and sickly are entitled to the P1,000 monthly pension. As the chief implementor of laws in the country, President Marcos is mandated to enforce what RA 7432 provides,” said the president of the Senior Citizens Association of West Kamias.

The three senior leaders noted that Congress has allocated PHP49.5 billion for the implementation of the social pe

The more than 800,000 indigent seniors denied their monthly social pension for 2024 are expected to remain in the waiting list of beneficiaries next year because the GAA provision guarantees only PHP 49.5 billion for the implementation of RA 7432 in 2025.

The same amount of PHP49.50 billion has been allocated for the current year, resulting in the denial of cash assistance to those in the waiting list.