Presidential candidate Sen. Manny Pacquiao urged the government to give additional benefits to senior citizens by providing free hospitalization, free medical checkups, and free medicines.
Pacquiao said these additional benefits should be on top of the discounts already being given to the elderly.
He noted that funding for these free health care services can be sourced from funds that he hopes to generate from the “billions of funds” that his government can save from a campaign against corruption. Pacquiao said corruption is estimated to cause Filipinos about P1 trillion a year.
He also said these additional benefits are a way for the government to “honor” senior citizens, and that the elderly should be “showered with love and respect.”
Aside from the additional services to the elderly, Pacquiao further said the government should focus on modernizing barangay health care units to hopefully de-clog public hospitals, particularly during the pandemic.