Elderly demand pension release

SOME 150 elderly people gathered yesterday to demand payment of pensions guaranteed under the Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010.

“I have already run out of money to buy rice and medicine,” said 80-year-old Sylvia Trinidad, who had been to several government offices asking for pension.

The “senior citizens” met at the Bantayog ng mga Bayani (Monument to Heroes) in Quezon City to mark the second anniversary of the law and demand the release of their benefits, including the pension of 500 pesos (about US$12) a month.

Trinidad, who makes a living by doing prayer services, said she lives with her grandchildren and she doesn’t have regular income. “Sometimes we skip meals. Somehow we managed to get some food to eat with God’s help.”

“I just want to eat some food and get help for medication,” said Rosalina De Guzman, 88, who came all the way from Caloocan City, accompanied by her daughter. De Guzman doesn’t get a pension and looks extremely weak.

The Coalition of Services of the Elderly (COSE) and the Confederation of Older Persons’ Associations of the Philippines (COPAP) initiated the dialogue with the government to discuss proper implementation of the social pension.

Many of the estimated five million senior citizens, 60 years old and above, do not receive social pensions, benefits and privileges mandated by law because of some irregularities, according to the group.

“De Guzman is a symbol of the hundreds of thousands of people all over the country who do not receive the pension,” said Ed Gerlock, the founder of COSE, a charity under the sponsorship of HelpAge International.

Gerlock has gone to a number of bishops and religious superiors to help the group organize poor communities. “I wish the Church was a lot more supportive than it actually is.”

“If the priority of the Catholic Church is really Basic Ecclesial Communities (BECs), that will never happen from the pulpit. You need the kind of organizing that these old people are doing,” Gerlock said.