CLARK FREEPORT – An increasing number of the elderly, otherwise known as senior citizens (SC) has prompted neophyte Rep. Joseller “Yeng” Guiao (1st District, Pampanga) to co-author a bill that would increase their automatic appropriation in the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA).
Guiao said recently that he is filing a bill, co-authored with the party list group Senior Citizens, to increase the elderly’s share in the IRA by 0.5 percent. “So now it becomes one percent,” he said.
At present, an automatic appropriation of one percent in the IRA is allocated to senior citizens and persons with disabilities (PWDs) which is divided into 0.5 percent for each of the said sectors. If Guiao’s bill is signed into law, the automatic appropriation will become 1.5 percent with the elderly getting the bulk of one percent and the PWD the remaining .5 percent.
Guiao reasoned that the rank of the elderly is increasing yearly as compared with PWDs but the former’s share in the IRA has remained the same.
“Every year, we see our elderly citizens growing in number a lot more than PWDs,” Guiao said. “These people require a lot of medical assistance and services,” he added.
But Guiao said despite a law establishing a senior citizens center in all cities and all municipalities in the Philippines and appropriating the amount necessary to carry out the provision of the law, they still miss out on their budget. That is why, he said, he is also working for the strict implementation of the law.
Guiao said he also observed that most of the time, local government units fail to allocate the funds to senior citizens and PWDs because there is no penalty under the law.
