Solons push protection of SCs, marginalized sectors
SAYING that they deserve better, Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva said it is high time that senior citizens (SCs) and marginalized sectors of society be given the proper care and consideration by our government.
Villanueva expressed strong support for Senator Raffy Tulfo in his privilege speech, where the latter is pursuing “justice” for the marginalized sector, especially the indigent senior citizens.
Villanueva said that during the last budget deliberations, he pushed for including P50 billion for Republic Act (RA) No. 11916, increasing the monthly social pension for indigent senior citizens.
Villanueva said senior citizens and marginalized sectors of society deserve protection from the government.
Tulfo, in a privilege speech, insisted on “the need for justice and ensuring that our senior citizens and the marginalized sector of our society are being taken care of” as he pushed the need for a government policy that will regulate the operations of lending companies that operate “Sangla-ATM.”
Tulfo said these “Sangla-ATM” lending institutions together with some pensioners’ relatives, took advantage of the elderly.
In his speech, Tulfo proposed the regulation of the use of Social Security System (SSS) and Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) pension ATMs as collateral and provided corresponding penalties as he explained that Sangla-ATM is a form of an informal lending system wherein the ATM card is sued as collateral and where the lender uses the ATM card or debit card to withhold the payment from the salary every payday until the entire amount is repaid.
