By Azer Parrocha
MANILA, (PNA) — Not only do senior citizens get employed this month, they will also be granted free memberships in PhilHealth (Philippine Health Insurance Corporation).
The first week of October is Elderly Filipino Week and the Dept. of Health along with other government agencies will prove that seniors can still be economically productive.
“Philhealth is providing our senior citizens free membership after retirement, and we hope to improve on their benefit packages soon,” Health Secretary Enrique Ona said.
According to the DOH, they will also be conducting a program to hire senior citizens as part of seasonal workforce.
Together with a supermarket chain, DOH will be hiring documented senior citizens, 60 to 70 years old, medically fit and are residents of communities where there is an existing branch.
The senior citizens will be given part-time jobs as ushers or greeters in the malls with four-hour working days twice a week, preferably on Saturdays, Sundays, or holidays when there is an influx of customers.
They will work anytime between 10 AM to 6 PM and will start working on Oct 5, the DOH noted.
“With the latest trend that shows the increasing number of older persons and their longer life expectancy, the DOH’s goal is to improve their quality of life by continuously developing a progressive older person health program,” Ona said.
In the country, the population of 60 years or older was 3.7 million in 1995 or 5.4 percent of total population, according to data from the National Statistical Coordination Board.
This increased to about 4.8 million or almost six percent in the 2000 census. At present, there are seven million senior citizens (6.9 percent of the total population), 1.3 million of whom are indigent.