To familiarize everyone with key socioeconomic terms and concepts, we are launching this new social media series.
For our inaugural issue, our buzzword for the week is “social pension”.
Social pension, specifically under the Social Pension Program for Indigent Senior Citizens (SocPen)*, is a stream of financial support to indigent elderly Filipinos to augment their daily subsistence and medical needs.
In the previous version of the SocPen, qualified beneficiaries may claim a monthly stipend of PHP 500. However, a PIDS study found that it can only pay for 7.5 percent of the poorest elders’ monthly average expenses on food and health.
The amount of stipend increased to PHP 1,000 after Republic Act 11916, a bill that proposed the change, lapsed into law on July 30, 2022.
Know more about the SocPen by reading “SocPen Beyond Ten: A Process Evaluation of the DSWD Social Pension (SocPen) Program for Indigent Senior Citizens amid the COVID-19 Pandemic” available at https://pids.gov.ph/publication/research-paper-series/socpen-beyond-ten-a-process-evaluation-of-dswd-s-socpen-program-amid-the-covid-19-pandemic.
* Republic Act 9994, Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010
