MANILA — Senator Loren Legarda filed Senate Bill No. 164, seeking to provide eligible senior citizens with P1,000 every month to help cover the cost of maintenance medications.

“We are alleviating the burden of our senior citizens by helping them manage these debilitating diseases as they get older,” Legarda said.

“This is to fulfill the government’s mandate to ensure that senior citizens have access to affordable healthcare, including the medications necessary for maintaining their health and well-being,” she added.

Legarda, the principal author of the Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010, noted that discounts on medicines might not be enough for many elderly Filipinos.

Under the proposed law, beneficiaries would receive a monthly maintenance medication support card that cannot be transferred or converted to cash. Senior citizens with a valid prescription issued within the last six months would be eligible. Fraud and abuse of the program would be penalized under existing laws.

“This is to pay homage to those who have toiled and paved the road for all of us; this is a small token of recognition,” Legarda said.

“We are here to affirm the State’s promise to take care of our senior citizens, helping make sure no one is left behind.”