Ceremonial Hall, Malacañan Palace
February 26, 2024

“Each of these laws encapsulates the merits that the Bagong Pilipinas upholds towards building a strong nation,” underscored President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. as he signed two (2) landmark measures aimed at uplifting the lives and welfare of the elderly, and promote Filipino-made goods and services.

The first measure enacted in today’s ceremony was Republic Act (RA) No. 11981 or the Tatak Pinoy (Proudly Filipino) Act, which strengthens the partnership between the government and private sector in promoting Philippine goods and services.

“Tatak Pinoy is more than a branding exercise. It is about incubating and incentivizing great products that deserve to carry the ‘Made in the Philippines’ trademark. It’s not about simply slapping labels on goods and services, but showing their provenance proudly, that they are gawang Pinoy,” the President said.

The second measure enacted was RA No. 11982, expanding RA No. 10868 or the Centenarians Act of 2016 that will give PhP10,000 cash incentive to senior citizens aged 80, 85, 90 and 95 every age milestone. Upon reaching 100 years old, the elderly will still receive PhP100,000.

“The expansion of the coverage of the Centenarians Act is a homage to the Filipino trait of compassion, and in our culture, none are showered with more kind and loving care than our elderly… But they deserve more than cash in an envelope. What they should get is the support infrastructure that every society owes to its greying population,” the Chief Executive stated, expressing further that as there were already close to 10 million senior citizens in the country two years ago, the societal facilities that attend to them should be expanded as well.

Concluding his message, President Marcos Jr. congratulated the House of Representatives and the Senate for the enacted laws, saying that, “It proves, once again, the tenet that bicameralism was designed to bring together the brilliance of two bodies through compromise.”

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