Senate hopeful Francis Tolentino wrongly implies senior citizens cannot re-enter workforce

Former presidential adviser for political affairs and now senatorial candidate Francis Tolentino gave a mistaken view that senior citizens are unable to return to the labor force under existing laws.

STATEMENT

At the Feb. 17 ABS-CBN senatorial debate, Tolentino and other candidates were asked what they would do to end the practice of labor contractualization in the country.

Apart from amending existing policies to ensure workers have security of tenure, Tolentino said he wants to take it a step further:

"Ang gusto ko ngayong mangyari yung mga senior citizens natin, yung retirees--56 years old, 60--makapagtrabaho uli, tanggapin uli sa labor force (What I want is for our senior citizens, the retirees--[those] 56 years old, 60--to be able to work again, to be accepted back into the labor force).”

Source: ABS-CBN News, Harapan 2019: The ABS-CBN Senatorial Town Hall Debate, Feb. 17, 2019, watch from 30:09 to 30:21

FACT

Tolentino’s proposal is not a new idea; there are already laws that allow and promote senior citizens’ re-entry to the workforce.

Read the full story on VERA Files Fact Check.

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