Senior Citizen Party-list works on parallel steps while issues on the National Commission of Senior Citizens are being sorted out as the pandemic hampered its efforts to organize and come together.
Rep. Rodolfo Ordanes, Senior Citizen Partylist, said he would continue collaborating with Social Welfare Secretary Erwin Tulfo and the DSWD Change Management Committee to ensure that social pensions for indigent senior citizens and centenarians cash grants continue uninterrupted while the National Commission of Senior Citizens (NCSC) issues are being resolved.
Ordanes will also be asking the House contingent to the bicameral conference committee on the 2023 national budget to continue fighting for what is rightfully due to seniors, as mandated by Republic Act (RA) 11350, which increased the social pension for indigent seniors to P1,000.
A hearing is scheduled for December 6 on the social pension for indigent senior citizens and the Centenarians cash grants implementation.
“Also parallel to the House inquiry, I will confer with the Civil Service Commission (CSC) chairman Karlo Nograles what the CSC can do in the meantime to address the urgent personnel concerns of the NCSC.” Ordanes said.
On December 1, the CSC will be invited to the next joint hearing of the Public Accounts Committee and the Special Committee on Senior Citizens. By that time, new developments may have addressed some of the NCSC's concerns about getting organized, particularly those on having their own Personnel Selection Board and Bids and Awards Committee, as well as the appointment of the NCSC Executive Director.
In the meantime, Ordanes will confer with some mayors on the possibility of lending some of the Office of Senior Citizens Affairs (OSCA) officials and staff to the NCSC on a secondment or detail basis.
Pandemic hampered NCSC
The COVID-19 pandemic hampered efforts to appoint NCSC Commissioners, an Executive Director, and key personnel because the entire country was slowed to a halt for much of 2020 and 2021, during which time the NCSC was supposed to be organizing and coming together.
Ordanes is currently reviewing RA 11350 to see what changes could be made to make it better.
“Perhaps, a transitory provision is needed. Maybe the NCSC Executive Director could be given additional powers and functions to unburden the Commission and its CEO. Any possible amendments I could formulate, I will file as a bill.” Ordanes added.
The Senior Citizen Partylist expresses gratitude to the Departments of Budget and Management (DBM) and DSWD for their efforts in organizing the NCSC.
DBM for approving the plantilla for 206 regular personnel and providing five staff to allow NCSC to carry out its daily operations.
DSWD for the time and effort of its own Personnel Selection Board (PSB) to provide an initial batch of qualified personnel from which NCSC can form its own PSB and Bids and Awards Committee, as well as for tasking its Change Management Committee to assist NCSC in getting up and running.
Tags: #NCSC, #SeniorCitizen, #Pension, #Pandemic