The Social Pension for Indigent Senior Citizens (SPISC) is still being implemented by the Department of Social Welfare and Development while the National Commission on Senior Citizens (NCSC) has assumed the distribution of cash gifts to octogenarians, nonagenarians, and centenarians.
Director Edmond Monteverde of the DSWD’s Protective Services Bureau (PSB) said the distribution of the monthly stipend under the SPISC will eventually be turned over to the NCSC but, for this year, the implementation is still by the DSWD.
For this year, the social pension has a funding allocation of P49.807 million for the P1,000 monthly stipend of 4,085,066 indigent senior citizens, or those with no source of income and support from their families.
The monthly social pension is provided to eligible seniors on a monthly, bi-monthly, and quarterly basis.
In Western Visayas, the DSWD disbursed a total of P399,660,000 in social pensions to 133,220 senior citizens in the first three months of 2025, including P45,954,000 for 15,318 beneficiaries in Negros Occidental, and P17,916,000 in Bacolod for 5,972 senior citizens.
Republic Act 11892, or the Expanded Centenarians Act, provide senior citizens reaching the milestone ages of 80, 85, 90, and 95 a cash gift of P10,000 each and a felicitation letter. Upon reaching the age of 100, the senior citizen will getP100,000 and a congratulatory letter from the President of the Philippines.
All these benefits are given to eligible senior citizens through the NCSC starting this 2025 as the Department of Budget and Management already downloaded the budget directly to the Commission.
Monteverde said the DSWD gives consideration to senior citizens who are sickly and physically unable to go to payout centers by conducting house to house, or door to door delivery, especially for the bedridden or those without companion.
Other modes of accessing the monthly pension are through cash advance by a designated disbursing officer from the DSWD and fund transfer to local government units (LGUs).
Aside from the current list of beneficiaries, the DSWD also has a list of waitlisted senior citizens, which will be used in case of delisting due to natural causes or deemed ineligible after validation, the agency said in a press release.
Meanwhile, DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian warned anew politicians and candidates who exploit the poor and vulnerable sectors for their personal or political gains.
His statement came after recent reports of campaign activities where members of vulnerable sectors were subjected to insensitive jokes and used to discredit political rivals.
Gatchalian condemned the use of marginalized groups, including solo parents, senior citizens, and persons with disabilities, as campaign props or subjects of jokes during barangay-based caucuses and election sorties.
He said the agency will continue to be a watchdog to protect the poor, marginalized and vulnerable sectors against any forms of abuse and exploitation.
The DSWD will also provide necessary assistance, such as financial aid, psychosocial and emotional interventions, and legal assistance to the affected individuals, he added. ||
