Senior Citizens during COVID-19 Crisis in the Philippines: Enabling Laws, Current Issues, and Shared Efforts

Abstract

While COVID-19 affects all ages, there is an unheard side of a vulnerable group of older people across the globe amid the current crisis. This article discusses the condition of senior citizens in the Philippines during the COVID-19 crisis. The review showed that various enabling laws have been enacted to secure the welfare of senior citizens. However, the current crisis revealed issues such as deprivation of income sources, inaccessibility to essential needs, inadequate physical space, and unspoken negative perceptions, which all greatly affect the senior citizens. Thus, to implement the laws and solve the issues, shared efforts should focus to improve social pension payout, guidelines for mobility, different approaches of remote access to essential goods and services, and meaningful internet connectivity in the context of senior citizens.