NCSC Chairperson Showcases Philippine Elderly Programs in Educational Forum Hosted in Kaohsiung, Taiwan

Dr. Mary Jean Loreche, Chairperson and CEO of the National Commission of Senior Citizens (NCSC), participated in an international forum on Crossing- Cultural Family Learning and intergenerational Well-Being held at National Kaohsiung Normal University, Taiwan.

Invited by the forum organizers, Dr. Loreche presented the Philippines’ key initiatives on lifelong learning and community- based care for older persons. Central to address was the country’s innovative Senior Citizens Community Care Centers (SC3C), community-based hubs providing wellness services, digital training, psychosocial support, and intergenerational engagement. These centers empower older Filipinos as educators, culture bearers, and active contributors to society.

Dr. Loreche underscored the need to reframe aging from burden to a blessing, grounded in the Filipino values of bayanihan (communal support) and strong intergenerational family bonds. She advocated for stronger people-to-people collaboration in advancing inclusive, culturally rooted models of aging.

The forum also provided opportunities for mutual learning and interdisciplinary dialogue. Of particular interest were Kaohsiung’s emerging “Smart Mutualism Communities,” which integrate:

1. People-centered technology to support elder care and mutual assistance;

2. Intergenerational caregiving embedded within cultural traditions; and

3. Aging-in-place models that use smart tools to preserve dignity and autonomy within communities.

Additionally, participants engaged with insights from the field of Medical Humanities, which advocates for a humanistic approach to healthcare. Medical professionals presented frameworks emphasizing empathy, narrative medicine, and the centrality of elder voices in clinical care--training physicians to see s are trained to view themselves as “persons first, doctors second”.

This forum not only enabled the exchange of promising practices across national contexts, but also reinforced the shared global imperative to design age-inclusive societies where older persons are recognized as agents of knowledge, resilience, and social cohesion. ■