Three senior citizens partylist groups are vying for seats in the House of Representatives in next year’s mid-term elections.

The three are the Ang Tinig ng Senior Citizens sa Filipinas Inc (Ang Tinig ng Seniors); United Senior Citizens Koalition ng Pilipinas (United Senior Citizens) and the Coalition of Associations of Senior Citizens in the Philippines. (Senior Citizens).

The United Senior Citizens and Senior Citizens partylists are currently represented in the Lower House by Reps. Mila Magsaysay-Aquino and Rodolfo Ordanes. Both are the first nominee of their respective organizations.

Former Rep. Godofredo Arquiza is the lead nominee of Ang Tinig ng Seniors.

During the Commission on Election raffle of number assignments that will determine the order of their listing on the ballot, the United Seniors was placed at no. 17 while Senior Citizens and Ang Tinig ng Seniors took Nos. 89 and 97, respectively.

The senior citizen voting population in the country is nearly 12 million.

The sheer number alone may win each of the partylist groups at least two vacancies in the 20th Congress if elderly Filipinos will unite to support the three groups.

Arquiza said that Ang Tinig ng Seniors has yet to win a seat in the Lower House but he does not see this as a handicap in the elections.

“I have served Congress as representative of the seniors sector. I am proud to state that I was able to author and push for the passage of vital legislative measures that protect the best interest of elderly Filipinos,” he said.

On the other hand, Magsaysay and Ordanes are co-authors of the Universal Pension Program bill that was approved last May by the Lower House.

The bill that provides for a P500 monthly pension for all senior citizens is still pending in the Senate.

The two incumbent solons were also among the congressmen who pushed for the increase in discounts on food and basic commodities from PHP65 to PHP125 per week.