Roberto E. Javier Jr.*, Mitzie Irene Conchada, and Melvin Jabar
De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines
roberto.javier@dlsu.edu.ph
Abstract:
Filipino young and middle-aged adults anticipate old age positively as it is a mark of achievement in human
life but negatively apprehend living through their old age, given the high incidence of poverty among the elderly in the
Philippines. The issues surrounding the insurance system, income security, and social pension in old age were all related
to unfavorable views about living through the aging years. In-depth group interviews (IGIs) conducted across cities and
municipalities in the countryside generated conceptions about aging and concerns about becoming old in a society with no
strong social protection for its graying population. A qualitative analysis was done using statistical software to summarize
and synthesize the voluminous verbal data from IGIs. Themes were drawn from the transcripts of the IGIs that involved 70
adults, selected through a respondent-driven technique from purposively selected sites in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao
where, according to the State statistics, the life expectancy was recorded high. Results reveal that, while Filipino young
and middle-aged adults anticipate aging as an inevitable human experience that poses a high risk for healthcare in later
life, their prospect for pension nd retirement well-being remains remote from present financial planning in their work-life,
particularly by the government. Thus, given the heightened awareness on the inevitability of aging and its consequences
such as diminishing health, the cessation of employment, and eventual retirement, these suggest that: first, there is a need
to harness the knowledge of workers and work organizations on the economics of the consequences of successful aging
among individuals such as financial planning for retirement well-being; and second, for stakeholders to push for the State to
improve the current insurance system and to provide a universal social pension that prioritizes persons deprived of income
due to disability, severely debilitating disease, or lost work opportunity during their younger years.
Keywords : Aging, Healthcare, Insurance System, Income Security, Retirement, Social Protection, Social Pension, Well-being
