Anti-Poverty Agency To Prioritize Senior Citizens’ Needs

by Elpidio Estioko

With the appointment of boxing icon Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao, who went through poverty himself and experienced sleeping in the streets as a young aspiring boxer, as Secretary of the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC), the goals of the commission should be in proper hands to knock down poverty nationwide.

NAPC’s core mission is to reduce inequality and poverty by ensuring that poverty reduction programs are inclusive, effective, and participatory.

Pacquiao is assisted by USec. Dr. Roman “Manny” Dannug, a former dean of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP), who committed to carry out the commission’s priority goals, especially advancing the interests of the nation’s senior citizens.

He has the expertise to ably support boxing icon Anti-Poverty Secretary Pacquiao in his quest to knock down poverty in the country.

During the third quarter meeting of NAPC last September 18, USec. Dannug thanked President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Executive Secretary Ralph Recto for appointing him as Deputy Director General of the agency.

In his speech, he promised to push the interests of senior citizens to greater heights as his major thrust. He emphasized that as a senior citizen himself, USec. Dannug said he has a big responsibility in helping manage the NAPC and pushing the interests of the senior citizens in light of the continuing challenge of poverty the country is facing.

Before his appointment to NAPC, USec. Dannug served as Dean of the College of Public Administration and Governance of PUP. I can vouch for his leadership capabilities because I worked with him at the university while I was the director for public affairs.

In said meeting, USec. Dannug had a dialogue with SCSC, and he expressed full support for the sectoral priority concerns that the group has laid down.

One of the priority issues they discussed is the call for immediate passage of the proposed Universal Social Pension that aims to give a regular pension to all senior citizens of the country regardless of their status in life, in addition to the existing Social Pension for Indigent Senior Citizens, which was only earmarked for indigent senior citizens.

The poverty sector also aired their request to return the National Commission of Senior Citizens to the Office of the President after it was attached to the Department of Social Welfare and Development under Executive Order No. 96 in September 2025.

USec. Dannug assured them that he will support their requests as part of his advocacy for the poor, especially the senior citizens.

NAPC is the coordinating and advisory body for the Philippine government’s Social Reform Agenda and poverty alleviation programs. It was created by Republic Act No. 8425 (Social Reform and Poverty Alleviation Act) on June 2, 1998, and is headquartered in Quezon City.

ELPIDIO R. ESTIOKO was a veteran journalist in the Philippines and an award-winning journalist here in the US. He just published his book Unlocking the Chain of Poverty: In Pursuit of the American Dream, which is now available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Xlibris Publishing. For feedback and comments, email the author at estiokoelpidio@gmail.com.