Live to be 101

There is a bill that just passed the House of Representatives on third and final reading and which seeks to give a one-million-peso cash gift to any Filipino, whether here or abroad, who reaches the age of 101. It also seeks to grant a twenty-five-thousand-peso cash gift to all Filipinos upon reaching the ages of 80, 85, 90, and 95.

House Bill 7535 received an overwhelming vote of 257 out of 316 members. The bill also provides that aside from the cash gift, a letter of felicitation from the president will be given to the centenary milestone celebrator. The bill will now go to the Senate for its concurrence, if it does not have its own version.

With the legislative mill now coming to life on longevity, I would not be surprised if the promised windfall would not trigger a miraculous psychological effect on those now scraping the celestial heights of age and make them actually live even longer. Remember, many of them never had the kind of money now being dangled just by hanging on some more.

But I wish that is easier said than done. The data, after all, suggest otherwise. The facts are stacked against a final payout. For 2023, the life expectancy for the Filipino has been pegged at 71.66 years of age. That makes even the first proposed minor incremental payout of ?25,000 at age 80 seem like a longshot.

I also cannot understand why the increments of five years had to be set back by one more year on reaching the most crucial point of this whole thing about gifting Filipinos for longevity and centenary achievement. If the whole thing is about reaching 100, why give the million pesos one year later at 101?

As the life expectancy of Filipinos show, it is not easy to even reach 80. It becomes increasingly hard to stretch life as one grows older. That is why it is such a big deal to reach 100, such that you would even be gifted with a million for reaching such an almost impossible milestone. Yet the million will be paid out at 101. That is, I think, very sadistic.

To make it through one year, the whole of 365 days, is already pretty much touch-and-go for anyone who is already 80 years old. How much more for one who is 100? If the government wants to give a centenarian a million pesos, it should give the money when he reaches 100, not when he is 101.

Also, if the bill becomes law, there should be in the implementing rules very clear guidelines on who may actually receive the money to make sure what is due the centenarian will truly be enjoyed and beneficially used by him or her. Nobody wants to see that money going into somebody else's pocket.

Records at the Department of Social Welfare and Development show there are 662 Filipinos who are at least 100 years old. So let us all hope and pray they can hang on until the bill becomes law and they can get what has been promised them. For it would be most heartbreaking for one to have gotten so near only to find the prize just a little too far.

The previous incentive to centenarians was that upon reaching 100 years old, a Filipino is to get ?100,000. Does increasing this to ?1M at 101 mean a person gets nothing at 100? If there is ?100K at 100 and ?1M at 101, then ok, all bets on life are on. But if no ?100K awaits at 100, only ?1M at 101, then chances are there is only zero even at 100. So sad.