Dela Rosa co-sponsors bill to increase veterans' disability pension

SENATOR Ronald "Bato" Dela Rosa has registered his support to efforts in the Senate directed at upgrading the lives of Filipino veterans as he co-sponsored Senate Bill No. 1480, under Committee Report No. 11, which seeks to increase the disability pension of veterans.

Dela Rosa, a retired police general himself who had served as chief of the Philippine National Police in the first few years of the Duterte administration, said, "With the passage of this measure, we can ensure that the pension that we have granted to our veterans may actually be utilized for their everyday needs."

He said the problem of insufficiency of pension benefits for veterans in the past was addressed during former President Duterte's administration when he increased the monthly old-age pension of senior veterans from P5,000 to P20,000.

"Thus, it is but right for this august chamber to likewise support this proposed measure (SBN 1480) given that the current disability pension merely ranges from P1,000 to P1,700. While these amounts may seem more than sufficient back when the law was passed, its value today merely equates to more or less a pensioner's food for a week or worse, less than half of a vehicle's gas tank," the senator said in a co-sponsor speech.

?He said while the sacrifices of the veterans are priceless, he hopes the enactment of the measure would, at least, amount to the continuous recognition and honoring of their sacrifice "that gave peace and stability today."

"It is but our responsibility as legislators to ensure that laws enacted are not only enacted with good intention but more importantly, responsive enough to actually carry out the very intent and spirit behind it," Dela Rosa said.