A panel in the House of Representatives has consolidated several measures that seek to prohibit and provide penalties for abuse of elders in the country.
The House committee on population and family relations, chaired by Laguna Rep. Sol Aragones—also one of the principal authors of the measure— stressed the need for Congress to pass a law “that will protect the physical, mental and social well-being of the elderly because of their age.”
“They are very frail and vulnerable to any ill treatment, be it physical or psychological,” said Aragones.
The panel approved, as amended and subject to style, House Bill Nos. 865, 2989, 4708 and 4980, authored respectively by Reps. Victor Yap of Tarlac, Wes Gatchalian of Valenzuela City, Magnolia Rosa Antonino of Nueva Ecija, and Ako Bicol party-list’s Alfredo Garbin.
Yap said the World Health Organization has defined elder abuse as “single or repeated acts or lack of appropriate action occurring within any relationship where there is an expectation of trust, which causes harm or distress to an older person.”
“Physical, emotional or psychological, sexual, neglect or abandonment, financial exploitation—all these are the examples of a long list of elderly abuse,” he said.
Aragones said four bills with the same subject matter were approved by the committee during the 15th Congress, but did not prosper.
“The proposal was transmitted to the committee on appropriations, but was not acted upon by the said committee,” the lawmaker said.
Aragones lamented the lack of exact data on the prevalence of elder mistreatment in the country.
“There is a great possibility the occurrence of abuse, violence, neglect and exploitation to elderly increases as our increasing population ages in years,” she said. “There are plenty of factors that can trigger intended, unintentional or unnecessary harm to the elderly.”
The authors said the bill aims to develop strategies for preventing and punishing crimes that target or otherwise disproportionately affect seniors, by collecting appropriate data to measure the extent of crimes committed against seniors and determine the extent of domestic and elder abuse.
“It seeks to strengthen existing services being accorded to senior citizens by the government,” they said.
Further, the measure aims to strengthen all government agencies including LGUs and government-owned and controlled corporations by establishing a mandatory senior’s desk in all offices of the government.
Based on the 2010 census, they said senior citizens or those aged 60 years old and over, comprised 6.8 percent of the country’s total population, or around seven million people.
“The number of senior citizens in proportion to our country’s population has been steadily growing. The number is expected to reach 14.3 million by the year 2040, making up around 13.8 percent of the population,” Yap said.
Yap pointed out that majority of senior citizens are living below the poverty line and have limited means of employment.
“Further, there has been an alarming increase of incidence of elder abuse. It is important to point out that criminal activity towards the elderly is another category which is also on the rise in recent years,” he said.
Yap said the country does not have a law which specifically targets elder abuse as a criminal offense because of lack of specific studies relating to crimes and abuse against senior citizens.