Politics has reared its ugly head into the affairs of the country’s senior citizens following the decision of National Commission of Senior Citizens Chairman Franklin Quijano to step down from his post.

Quijano decided to give up his position in the face of strong pressure from political leaders aligned with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

Last July, President Marcos ordered Quijano preventively suspended for 90 days on administrative charges that the news media failed to specify.

The NCSC chief was supposed to report back to work last October 11 but decided to instead file his certificate of candidacy as mayor of Iligan City which he held before heading the commission.

Quijano confirmed that he will challenge Iligan City’s incumbent mayor in the 2025 local elections.

“I filed my COC (certificate of candidacy), I am considered resigned at NCSC,” said Quijano.

“I believe I was able to inject professionalism in the NCSC because this is what the our senior citizens deserve,” he stated.

An appointee of former President Rodrigo Duterte, Quijano still has one year more remaining from his six-year term as chairman of the NCSC. A political ally of Duterte, Quijano was a former regional chairman of the former’ president’s party, PDP-Laban.

Before his suspension, NCSC commissioners issued a manifesto accusing him of mismanaging the commission through grave abuse of authority, grave misconduct, gross negligence of duty, ignorance of the law and conduct inimical to the interest of the public.

Just like the administrative charge that caused Quijano’s suspension, the news media has failed to detail specifics of the accusations leveled against him by his fellow commissioners.

The government-run Philippine News Agency said the commissioners said the NCSC was “fiscally mismanaged due to underspending since the agency has no clear programs.”

In the manifesto signed by the NCSC commissioners, they said: “We appeal to his (Quijano”s) sense of propriety and decency to quit and find the platform, if there is, where his kind of leadership may find its place.”

The manifesto was released during a press conference that reporters admitted to have been hastily organized by the public relations officer of Senior Citizens Partylist Rep. Rodolfo Ordanes.