Definitions

14th Congress 3rd Regular Session

Metro Manila, Monday, July 27, 2009.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress assembled:

Section 1 (Amended) Declaration of Policies

The State shall promote a just and dynamic social order that will ensure the prosperity and independence of the nation and free the people from poverty through policies that:

• provide adequate social services
• promote:
  • full employment
  • a rising standard of living
  • an improved quality of life.

The State shall provide social justice in all phases of national development and that the State values the dignity of every human person and guarantees full respect for human rights.

Article 13, Section 11 of the Constitution provides that the State shall adopt an integrated and comprehensive approach to health development which shall endeavor to make essential goods, health and other social services available to all the people at affordable cost. There shall be priority for the needs of the underprivileged, sick, elderly, disabled, women and children. Article XV, Section 4 of the Constitution Further declares that it is the duty of the family to take care of its elderly members while the State may design programs of social security for them.

This Act shall serve the following objectives:

• (a) To recognize the rights of senior citizens to take their proper place in society and make it a concern of the family, community, and government;
• (b) To give full support to the improvement of the total well-being of the elderly and their full participation in society, considering that senior citizens are integral part of Philippine society;
• (c) To motivate and encourage the senior citizens to contribute to nation building;
• (d) To encourage their families and the communities they live with to reaffirm the valued Filipino tradition of caring for the senior citizens;
• (e) To provide a comprehensive health care and rehabilitation system for disabled senior citizens to foster their capacity to attain a more meaningful and productive ageing; and
• (f) To recognize the important role of the private sector in the improvement of the welfare of senior citizens and to actively seek their partnership.

In accordance with these, this Act shall:

1. establish mechanisms whereby the contributions of the senior citizens are maximized
2. adopt measures whereby our senior citizens are assisted and appreciated by the community as a whole;
3. establish a program beneficial to the senior citizens, their families and the rest of the community they serve
4. establish community-based health and rehabilitation programs for senior citizens in every political unit of society.”

Section 2: Definitions

• (a) Senior citizen or elderly refers to any resident citizen of the Philippines at least sixty (60) years old
• (b) Geriatrics refer to the branch of medical science devoted to the study of the biological and physical changes and the diseases of old age
• (c) Lodging establishment refers to a building, edifice, structure, apartment or house including tourist inn, apartelle, motorist hotel, and pension house engaged in catering, leasing or providing facilities to transients, tourists or travelers
• (d) Medical Services refer to hospital services, professional services of physicians and other health care professionals and diagnostics and laboratory tests that the necessary for the diagnosis or treatment of an illness or injury
• (e) Dental services to oral examination, cleaning, permanent and temporary filling, extractions and gum treatments, restoration, replacement or repositioning of teeth, or alteration of the alveolar or periodontium process of the maxilla and the mandible that are necessary for the diagnosis or treatment of an illness or injury;
• (f) Nearest surviving relative refers to the legal spouse who survives the deceased senior citizen: Provided, That where no spouse survives the decedent, this shall be limited to relatives in the following order of degree of kinship: children, parents, siblings, grandparents, grandchildren, uncles and aunts;
• (g) Home health care service refers to health or supportive care provided to the senior citizen patient at home by licensed health care professionals to include, but not limited to, physicians, nurses, midwives, physical therapist and caregivers
• (h) Indigent senior citizen, refers to any elderly who is frail, sickly or with disability, and without pension or permanent source of income, compensation or financial assistance from his/her relatives to support his/her basic needs, as determined by the Department of Social Welfare and development (DSWD) in consultation with the National Coordinating and Monitoring Board.”