President “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s (PBBM) much-awaited State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Monday, July 27, lasted one hour and 26 minutes. It was his longest and second to the last for his term.
Found anticlimactic by his critics, it proved to be disappointing to senior citizens. Because while it was deliberately long in the apparent attempt to cover the concerns of all sectors, it paradoxically forgot the most vulnerable but important sector of the population that has always played a crucial role in the effort to nation building, according to Senior Citizens Party-list Representative Rodolfo “Ompong” Ordanes.
PBBM’s SONA obliviously did not have a single line to address current critical gaps for elderly welfare, specifically in the Universal Social Pension Act, specialized geriatric healthcare, and rising medical and living costs.
Many older Filipinos currently still lack steady incomes or adequate savings, making a universal social pension essential for basic daily survival. Aging bodies require specialized medical attention, which calls for the institutionalization of the Geriatric Health Act and dedicated national geriatric centers. Rising prices on basic utilities, food, and maintenance medicines disproportionately crush fixed-income retirees who cannot re-enter the active workforce.
