Senator Ramon ‘Bong’ Revilla, Jr. is pushing for a bill that will lower the age of senior citizens from the present sixty years old to fifty-six to allow them to be granted appropriate benefits for them.
Revilla, who principally authored the newly signed Expanded Centenarian law, claimed that there is a need to lower the age of senior citizens primarily because of the much lower life expectancy of Filipinos aside from the fact that many of them are now taking in maintenance medicines for life-threatening illnesses at the age of 4o and even lower.
He proposed that part of the conditions that will be included once the lowering of the age of senior citizens to 56 will be approved will be their enjoyment of at least 10 percent discount on purchases that they will make for their basic needs such as food, medicines among others.
The senator admitted that is an ongoing debate on the aforesaid proposal that is why he wants to get the overall sentiment of the people on the matter prior to the filing of the bill in the Senate so that Filipinos will be able to benefit from the discounts that will be granted to them for the purchases that will be made for their basic needs.
According to him, the proposed lowering of the age of senior citizens will translate to more benefits for the younger Filipinos and not to discriminate them because what matters is for them to remain healthy and productive as they try to sustain the upliftment of the living condition of their families.
Senator Revilla, together with the cast of the sitcom Walang Matulis na Pulis sa Matinik na Masis, was in town to promote the weekly show through the float of GMA Network which was one of the competing large floats during the grand floral parade of the 28th edition of the Panagbenga, popularly known as the Baguio flower festival.
He assured concerned sectors that the Senate will conduct public hearings on the said proposal to elicit various proposals from the people on how to further enhance the provisions of the bill so that more Filipinos will be able to benefit from its implementation in the future.
Under the Expanded Centenarian law, seniors aged 80, 85, 90 and 95 will be granted P10,000 cash benefits while those centenarians will be receiving the full P100,000 cash reward.
The lawmaker asserted that the octogenarians and nonagenarians definitely deserve the said incentives which will surely help in augmenting their resources to be able to purchase their basic needs for them to continue living a decent life with the members of their families.
Senator Revilla expressed his gratitude to President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. for signing into the law the Expanded Centenarian Act that will provide additional benefits for octogenarians and nonagenarians as part of the government’s efforts to provide additional benefits to members of the vulnerable and marginalized sectors of the country.
He urged the concerned government agencies to facilitate the crafting of the implementing rules and regulations of the new law so that its pertinent provisions could be implemented the soonest for the benefit of octogenarians and nonagenarians who stand to benefit from it in the coming months. By Dexter A. See