The House Committee on Senior Citizens is expected to decide on Tuesday (February 24) on the proposed Universal Social Pension Law that seeks to provide a monthly pension to all senior citizens.

The committee is chaired by Milagros Aquino-Magsaysay of United Senior Citizens Party-list.

A total of 25 bills proposing a pension for the country’s estimated 13 million senior citizens were consolidated and referred to the Committee on Appropriations in December 2025.

The appropriations panel has reportedly approved the proposed budget for the measure’s implementation.

Magsaysay is among the principal authors of the consolidated bill, which seeks to grant elderly Filipinos a monthly social pension of PHP1,000, regardless of social or economic status.

Other versions of the measure propose monthly pensions ranging from PHP500 to as much as PHP2,000.

During the 19th Congress, the House of Representatives approved a bill granting PHP500 monthly financial assistance to all senior citizens. However, the Senate did not pass the measure.

The bill was referred to the Senate committee chaired at the time by Imee Marcos, which conducted only one hearing before the regular session ended.

Aside from Magsaysay, other lawmakers who filed their own versions of the Universal Social Pension (USP) bill include Reps. Alfredo Garbin Jr. (Ako Bicol), Ma. Victoria Co-Pilar (Quezon City), Irwin Tieng (Manila), Tobias Tiangco (Navotas), Salvador Pleyto (Bulacan), Mikaela Angela Suansing (Nueva Ecija), Iris Marie Montes (party-list representative), Mark Anthony Santos (Las Piñas City), Midy Cua (Quirino), Terry Ridon (party-list representative), and Timothy Joseph Cayton (Nueva Vizcaya).

Pleyto, one of the oldest members of the House, underscored the urgency of the measure.

“There remains a substantial number of elderly Filipinos who are left without a stable source of income, making them vulnerable to various socio-economic pressures,” he said.

Magsaysay, a long-time advocate of expanding social pensions for senior citizens, has pushed for swift committee action. She expressed hope that Congress will pass the measure well before the end of the 20th Congress in 2028.