Newly-appointed Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Teodoro Herbosa needs to designate a person who will focus on the welfare of the country’s senior citizens, Sen. Francis Tolentino said.
In a press statement directed to Herbosa, Tolentino asked: “Is there really someone who is in charge of our senior citizen? Someone who is a focal person for our senior citizens?”
Tolentino added that there should be an official within the DOH who will “solely focus on health and welfare of Filipinos aged 60 years old and above to ensure their well-being, considering various morbidity/comorbidity that could occur in that life period.”
The lawmaker earlier this year filed Senate Bill No. 1799 or the “Comprehensive Senior Citizen Welfare Act” which seeks the creation of “a national health program and shall provide an integrated health service for the elderly.”
Under the proposed measure, the DOH will coordinate with local government units, non-government organizations and other groups for the health program dedicated to the elderly.
The DOH chief has welcomed Tolentino’s suggestion, according to the statement.
Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Ray Villafuerte on Sunday meanwhile urged local officials to support the government in its continuing effort to put up an accurate database for an estimated 12.3 million elderly Filipinos nationwide.
He told local executives that the national listing or cataloging of senior citizens is timely and vital at this time when some four million elderly Filipinos who are considered as indigent are eligible to receive higher monthly subsidies under a new law on improved social protection for this sector.
“I am appealing to our local executives to help the Department of Social Welfare and Development and National Commission of Senior Citizens establish the national database for an estimated 12.3 million seniors, given the urgency of identifying and getting an accurate number of elderly Filipinos, particularly those who are eligible to receive the higher monthly subsidy of P1,000 under Republic Act 11916,” he said.
As of June 18, the NCSC has registered only 2,032,708 elderly Filipinos in its national database.
Villafuerte, co-author of RA 11916 or the Social Pension for Indigent Seniors Act, said the amendatory law had lapsed last July 30, and that pension doubled to P1,000 from P500 the monthly social pension of more than four million indigent elderly Filipinos.