Today, the Commission on Human Rights, together with communities everywhere in the Philippines, joins in the celebration of Grandparent’s Week. Proclamation No. 757, s. 1996 sets aside 11-18 March as the annual week-long celebration of Grandparent’s week in recognition of the importance of fostering love and care for the elderly and the need to inculcate in the minds of the youth the importance of giving honor and respect to our ‘lolos’ and ‘lolas’ who play important roles in our society.
According to the Population Commission senior, citizens accounted for 8% or 8.103 million people of the country’s population as of 2018. While the United Nations Population Fund projects the senior population in the Philippines to rise to some 23.63 million individuals by 2050. These numbers prove how numerous the number of elderly individuals in the Philippines are. The passage of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 jumpstarted the rights of the elderly, and the shift towards conventions-based inclusivity as seen in the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).
Currently, the Philippines together with the international community have made recent strides to promote and protect the rights of the elderly. The Commission thus lauds the efforts of the Philippine government in the passage of the Republic Act No. 11350 or the National Commission of Senior Citizens Act—which creates the National Commission on Senior Citizens to ensure the full implementation of laws and programs concerning senior citizens—and President Rodrigo Duterte’s Executive Order 104 which sets a maximum drug price ceiling (MDRP) for at least 87 drug molecules, or the combination of medications within a single capsule.
These actions together with the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) Social Pension Program for Indigent Senior Citizens (SPISC) proves the country’s commitment to the Kuala Lumpur Declaration on Ageing: Empowering Older Persons in ASEAN and help bolster the social services afforded to the elderly in ensuring the Philippines does not fall short in its obligations to care for everyone including the elderly and less financially endowed.
The Commission hopes that the government will be able to continuously sustain its efforts in caring for the elderly, and we issue yet again our call for the for the unhampered passage of the Anti-Elder Abuse Act which defines “elder abuse” and provides mechanism for legal, social and moral redress when abuse against an elderly individual has been committed. ###