Marjorie C.

Baquial
EH 307- Human Rights Law
Atty. Joan Dymphna Saniel-Amit

How we as a society are neglecting the rights

of our elderly
The elderly has it harder than the rest of the population when it comes to accessing healthcare.
This group is more vulnerable because they are seen as non-contributing members to society,
which means their well-being will be last on the list if anything. With this in mind, a lot of elderly
abuse go unnoticed, some may even happen right under our noses. Are we protecting our elderly
enough?

Abuse Against Older People Pervasive Worldwide

In a 2014 report of the Commission on Human Rights, 40% or 4 out of 10 elderly people in the
country suffer abuse. But this human rights issue is not unique to the country. With the aging
population in many countries, more and more elderly people are suffering abuse and neglect by
the society, the state, and even by their own families. With less and less services provided to help
them, more and more elderly people are coming out of the woodwork. Some are forced to work
until their 70s, some retire without enough finances to support them throughout their retirement
years, and worst, some elderly cannot retire as they fear being homeless and unable to attend to
their own needs.

This phenomenon is pervasive worldwide. However, upon doing my research, I realized that
there's not much attention being spent to address this worsening issue. Although we have the UN
Convention on the Rights of the Elderly, this convention lacks teeth and many states tend to ignore
it.

More talk, less deed?

In the Philippines, there are laws that seek to protect the elderly population from abuse and protect
them from discrimination. However, these laws are inadequate and lacking. A law is yet to be
passed institutionalizing anti-elderly abuse. For example, House Bill 7030, also known as the
“Anti-Elder Abuse Act,” is still pending in Congress and is yet to be acted upon.

Considering that this is a basic human right and should be protected by the state, it is frustrating to
know that relevant laws to secure their rights and penalize violations of such rights are close to
nonexistent. Despite the existence of international conventions, and agreements seeking to put this
issue into the limelight, the State's response and plan of action is very lacking.
Lack of Institutionalization of Elderly Rights
There are many programs that are being developed for the elderly, but one of the biggest problems
is institutionalization. We need to think about the responsibility of the government to provide
support for this community. Some people might not have any family or friends to take care of
them, so it's important to have the government take care of their needs. Civic groups may exist to
reach out to the elderly who need help, but with limited resources and capacity, it would be
impossible for them to completely fill in the gap left by the state.

It is the role of the state to protect its constituents The elderly people have spent their lifetime
building the nation and their lives are just as important as any other sector in the country.
Unfortunately, it seems like their welfare is not the state's priority. In the next few years, I hope to
see some change and progress as to our treatment to our elderly people.

Hence, I decided to focus my final project on the Rights of the Elderly and bring the issue to light
using the social media platform Facebook. I believe that we should uphold and respect not only
our Filipino value of respect for our elderly but also uphold and give importance to their human
rights.