The National Commission of Senior Citizens (NCSC) has expressed full and unconditional support for House substitute bills that would expand benefits and strengthen social protection for senior citizens. One proposal is a monthly pension for all Filipino senior citizens regardless of income, according to a statement posted on its website on December 10, 2025.
The proposed Universal Social Pension would cover indigent and non-indigent seniors alike. Under the current program, only seniors classified as indigent receive the monthly benefit. The Social Pension for Indigent Senior Citizens (SPISC) provides ₱1,000 a month under Republic Act No. 9994 and is implemented by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), the NCSC said.
The House Committee on Senior Citizens, chaired by Rep. Milagros Aquino-Magsaysay, took up the bills at its third regular meeting on Dec. 2, 2025. The committee agreed to recommend an initial pension of ₱1,000 a month for both indigent and non-indigent seniors, double the ₱500 earlier proposed. The pension remains subject to final legislative approval.
The substitute bills also propose amending Republic Act No. 7432 to expand senior privileges. These include mandatory discounts and value-added tax (VAT) exemptions on basic goods, health care, transportation, digital purchases and other essential services.
NCSC Chairperson and CEO Atty. Ma. Merceditas N. Gutierrez urged immediate passage of the measures. Gutierrez said the NCSC is ready to lead the drafting of the implementing rules once the proposals become law. She also said seniors should receive the pension regardless of other benefits they get from other pension providers.
Gutierrez described the dignity of aging as a universal experience and said the proposed pension would remove the line drawn between indigent seniors and pensioners.
The NCSC is an attached agency of the DSWD under Executive Order No. 96. It also implements the Expanded Centenarian Act cash gift distribution.
A similar measure, House Bill 10423, was approved by the House on third and final reading in May 2024. On December 16, 2025, the Manila Bulletin reported that the House Special Committee on Senior Citizens had approved the committee report and substitute bill, which would next go to plenary approval.
The NCSC statement did not give a timetable for plenary action. The current status of the bills has not been confirmed.
